The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya: Tsukuribanashi
by Thnikkafan
Summary: In the small sleepy town of Hinamizawa, there have been a string of murders connected to the Watanagashi festival. This has piqued the interest of one Haruhi Suzumiya, who has decided to investigate. But... haven't they been here before?
1. Chapter 1: Fresh Start

**The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya: Tsukuribanashi-hen**

**Chapter One: Fresh Start

* * *

**

Hello, readers, and welcome to the second arc of _The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya_. This is a sort of continuation of Kamigoroshi-hen (in the same way as Tsumihoroboshi-hen is a continuation of Onikakushi-hen in _Higurashi._ If you haven't read Kamigoroshi, go read it now, and read this one afterwards, or else you might not get this one.

Anyway, on with the show...

**

* * *

**

_I see your face, from way off in the distance. And I recognize it._

_I do not remember who you are. I do not remember what you have done, if you were a hero or a villain._

_But I know you. I have seen you before. I remember your face._

_But do you remember mine?_

-Fredrica Bernkastel_  
_

_

* * *

_

What was that?

I just heard someone say something along the lines of "I know you. I have seen you before." just now. Sounds like... I don't know, maybe a little girl, maybe someone older. Nobody I knew, that's for sure.

_I never thought I would have seen you again._

And there it is again. Look, mysterious voice, I don't know who or what you are, but cut it out. It's creepy.

And I felt the bus that we were riding in slowly come to a stop. I opened my eyes to see where we ended up.

Now, you're probably wondering why the SOS Brigade is on a bus, and where we probably have arrived. Well, why the hell are you asking me? Why would I know? I'm just Haruhi's living luggage cart at this point in the adventure. Go ask her.

According to the tiny bits of information that Haruhi has let me know, we should have just arrived in Hinamizawa. Hinamizawa is a small village in the mountains somewhere in Gifu, which is famous for a festival held sometime in late July. And, according to Haruhi, there is a chain of murders that have been occuring around the festival. The investigation of which is why we, the SOS Brigade, are here.

You know, in all honesty, I was sort of looking forward to this until I woke up just now. I was looking forward to a normal, supernatural-free murder-mystery that wasn't provided by the Orginazation. But now, with that spirit... assuming I'm not going mad, that's definitely supernatural. Let's just hope that the two are unrelated and be done with it.

At this moment, I wasn't the only one awake. Nagato, as still as she would be if she _was_ sleeping (assuming she even sleeps), was reading. Koizumi was sitting up and stretching, obviously having just woken up. Asahina-san and Haruhi were still sleeping.

_I remember you... but do you remember me?_

No. I don't. Stop saying that. You're creeping me out.

_I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..._

That's just as bad. Please, just leave me alone. Go bug someone else, okay?

I pulled out a pencil from my pocket, got up from my seat/bed, and rapped Haruhi on the forehead. She popped her snot bubble, stirred, and grumbled.

"Wha? Don't hit me..." said Haruhi.

"We're here." I said.

"What? Where's here?"

"Hinamizawa, I think."

"Oh... right, that."

She sat up and stretched.

"Well, if we're where I think we are, we're not quite in Hinamizawa yet."

"We're not?"

"Eh, I'll explain when we get everything unpacked. Speaking of which, hop to it."

She stood up and stretched again.

"That goes for everyone. We're moving out."

Koizumi stretched, got up, and started unloading some of the bags. I did the same thing. Haruhi decided to wake up Asahina-san up by reclining on her with her hands right on her breasts. I'd chastise Haruhi for doing that, but Asahina-san's expression (a light smile before she opened her eyes, and total shock afterward) made me decide against that.

"I just have one thing that's bugging me." I said.

"And that is?" said Haruhi.

"Why this bus? I mean, really, it has an odd smell, the seats suck, and I haven't seen anyone but us get on or off. Couldn't someone get, I dunno, a friend or a relative to drive us?"

"Well, my parents had to work, so I couldn't get anyone. Too bad." said Haruhi.

Well, what about Koizumi? He has his Contacting skill maxed out. Surely he could have gotten someone?

"Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone at all." said Koizumi.

"What, nobody?" said Haruhi.

"No. Arakawa and Mori were off trying to help a friend of theirs stuck on an island, my parents had a business meeting, and that tied down pretty much everyone else."

"Well, that sucks."

Come to think of it, Haruhi, where'd you get access to this bus?

"I found the schedules on the internet. It's the only bus that goes to anywhere near Hinamizawa."

Eventually, we finished grabbing all our bags (really damn heavy bags - there's about a duffel bag for each of us, and then two more. It must weigh more than an elephant in total.) and we made our way out of the bus. The bus drove off, never to be seen again.

We were currently standing at the outer fringe of a pretty large town. This can't be Hinamizawa. Where are we?

"Alright, gang!" said Haruhi. "As I've said, this isn't Hinamizawa. Not quite yet. I couldn't find a bus that lead up there. Currently, we're outside of O... oko..."

"Okinomiya." said Nagato.

"Yeah, that's it. Anyway, in case any of you missed the memo-"

I really seriously doubt that Haruhi knows how to write a memo.

"-we are going to be in town for the Watanagashi festival. I've heard that it's supposed to be quite lovely."

Asahina-san smiled and nodded. The light of the sun through the the grove of trees behind us illuminated her large, shining golden eyes and beautiful auburn hair.

"That's right. I've heard Tsuruya-san say nothing but nice things about it."

"Yes. However, the _real_ reason that the SOS Brigade is here is to investigating a strange chain of murders that have been happening around the time of the festival."

"I thought it was a curse?" I said.

Haruhi gave me an odd look and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? I don't remember anything about a curse."

And the wierd thing is... I don't, either.

"Where'd you hear about that?"

In fact, in my recollection, the only memory of a mention of a curse is what I just said. Why did I say that?

"Although... if it turns out that there _is_ a curse, that would be even... anyway, I don't think we'd be able to get a ride to Hinamizawa, so I guess we'll be walking."

Walking? Really? How far is it from here?

"It's a few kilometers from here, but it shouldn't be too bad."

"Kilometers? Really? Can't we take a cab or a bus or something?" I said.

"Kyon, if I could have gotten a bus to take us there, I would have. But there's no bus stop. And, seriously, don't they charge extra for bags with cabs? We don't have much cash on hand."

What, with all this crap? Asahina-san would pass out. Heck, I'd probably pass out, too.

_I wonder... can he help me?_

Didn't I tell you to stop talking?

"Well, we're gonna carry on, with all our bags." said Haruhi. "Unless someone," and she shot me a devious look "wants to carry them for us."

"What, me?" I said, "No. I already have enough."

"Well, you know, I _would_ like to not have to carry these..."

How about we mutually shut up?

Koizumi frowned and shook his head, wearing an expression completely alien for that pretty face of his.

"I don't know... I'm just getting a bad feeling."

"About having to walk?" said Haruhi.

"Well..."

He dropped the frown.

"Yes, that's it. I'm just concerned that, you know, one of us could faint, or fall and sprain an ankle."

Koizumi, not instantly confirming to one of Haruhi's ideas, to her face? Something's definetely up.

"Well, suck it up, Koizumi-kun. We're gonna walk anyway, because that's what I want to do. Now, which way is the fastest..."

Haruhi pulled out a sheet of paper with a map on it and started looking at the various nearby roads that led out from the bus stop. Nagato had walked up to the forest edge and was staring into it like she was expecting it to swallow her up. Asahina-san was teetering around like a top winding down under the weight of her bags. Koizumi was standing off to the side, hand in chin, staring dourly at the ground.

"So, what was that about?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"I'm getting a rather odd feeling. Something about this place is wrong."

"Well, it must be some sort of esper thing, because I don't see anything wrong with this situtation."

That wasn't really true, but it wasn't 100 percent falsehood. Sure, that spirit is creepy, but I don't think it can harm me. I think it's just ambience.

Koizumi went back to his default smile.

"In any case, it doesn't matter. I'm sure that we'll enjoy ourselves here in Hinamizawa."

_If you're who I think you are... then... why are you here?_

"Out of curiosity, is this odd feeling manifesting itself as a voice that's talking to you like an old friend?" I said.

"Uh... no, it isn't." said Koizumi.

"Oh, okay."

"Yuki, what are you doing?" said Haruhi.

I looked. Nagato was still standing still, facing the forest.

"Hinamizawa is in this direction."

Haruhi glanced back at her map, and then gave Nagato a look. It was a spot-on replica of the tired-looking emoticon, the one made with two minus signs with an underscore in the middle.

"Yuki-chan, that's through the forest."

"It is the fastest way."

"So, it's through a forest, and those look like mountains in the background. What if one of us fell down a ravine or something, hm?"

"It is safe."

"Well, how do you know?"

"Trust me."

"Actually, Yuki, to be honest, I don't."

"Out of curiosity," I said, "how much faster is it?"

"Following major and minor roads would extend the distance betweenm here and Hinamizawa by approximately thirty-seven percent."

Haruhi looked at her map again.

"Well, if we go about a kilometer every 5 minutes... round the percent to thirty-three... Yuki, you have a point. That's about a half-hour of time we could shave off. Alright, guys, let's go!"

She grabbed two duffel bags, started walking in the direction Yuki was facing, stopped about a hundred meters out, waited for Nagato to catch up, and kept pace with Nagato from then on.

_Your entire group... why do you all seem so familiar?_

Nagato and Haruhi walked into the forest. Me, Koizumi, and Asahina-san grabbed the last of the bags and followed.

_Especially her... the doll-like one._

I hustled ahead to match pace with Nagato.

_Wasn't there someone like her? Someone who wasn't nice at all?_

"Hey."

_No... she can't be. She's dead._

"..."

By this time, Haruhi had gotten the gist of where we were going, and was leading the pack as usual. Might as well make this quick, so that we don't walk in circles for three hours.

"Look, this is totally going to sound crazy, but I keep hearing this... this spirit."

_No... oh, no, it is her..._

"..."

_Au au au au..._

"It's real, right?"

Nagato looked left, then right.

_Please don't see me please don't see me please don't see me_

Whoever this spirit is, she's afraid of Nagato. I wonder why.

When Nagato's gaze passed a certain point, the spirit shrieked, and then, silence.

"Thanks." I said.

"..."

"Yuki-chan, aren't you supposed to be leading us?" said Haruhi, falling back slightly.

"I forgot." said Nagato. Haruhi pulled her ahead.

And we kept walking. There wasn't much in the way of noise; just our footsteps, the occasional tune that Haruhi whistled, and the cries of the higurashi.

What exactly are we getting into in Hinamizawa?

What - or who -was that spirit? How does she know me? And why is she afraid of Nagato?

And why does it feel like this whole concept has been done before?

* * *

After, oh, I'd say an hour or so, we eventually reached a good-sized, two-story house.

"Well, I think we finally made it." said Koizumi.

"What, you're calling this Hinamizawa?" said Haruhi.

It's attatched to a road, isn't it?

"This is the outskirts of Hinamizawa," said Koizumi. "We've come in at an odd angle."

"Hmmm... I see." said Haruhi. "By the way, Yuki, thanks for leading us. There's some chocolate in one of these bags that you can have later. Who knows how long it would have taken uf we went some other way?"

Well, if you were leading us, we'd either completely encircle the town three times before we reached it or miss it entirely. And out of all the things I'd use to reward Nagato, food's at the bottom of the list. I'd just shell out a couple thousand yen and get her a game.

"Thank you," said Nagato.

We circled around to the front of the house. Haruhi set her bags down and walked up to the door.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Kyon-kun, I am acquiescing lodgings for our traveling party."

It took me a few seconds to comprehend what the hell she just said.

"Lodgings?" I said. "Don't you already know where we're staying?"

"Nope." said Haruhi, probably trying her hardest to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"What."

"No, wait, that's not true."

Thank god. She wouldn't sink so far as to go into a town (that doesn't even have any hotels, for one thing) with no plans whatsoever on where to stay.

"I'm carrying out my lodgings-garnering plan as we speak."

"What, you're just going to knock on their door at somewhere around dinnertime and ask if we can stay for a week?"

"Ah, see, you're starting to catch on, Kyon-kun."

You've gotta be kidding me.

Haruhi knocked on the door.

Nothing.

"...is anyone even in here?" she asked, after a while.

"Doesn't look like it." said Koizumi.

"Oh. Well, should we just go in-"

"And just move into someone's house? That's ludicrous." I said.

"Fine, fine. It's probably locked, anyway. Let's go to the next one, then."

"You're going door to door, now?"

"What, you got any better ideas than this?"

I know fully well that this is a stupid idea, at least.

Nevertheless, we walked down some steps to a much smaller, two-story house. At least this one had lights on.

"Alright, take two." said Haruhi. She walked up and knocked on the door.

"Just a second!" said a voice from inside. A little girl's voice, from the sound of it. The door opened.

I was right; it was a young girl, probably somewhere between eight and ten. She had short blonde hair in a headband, a pink shirt, and denim shorts. She looked... I'm not sure if "scrappy" is the right word, but I'm gonna go with it. Currently, she had a quizzical expression.

"Can I help you?"

"Um, yes," said Haruhi. She knelt down to meet this girl at eye level. "Are your parents here?"

The little girl paused and blinked.

"...no. No, they aren't."

"Oh. When will they be back, then?"

For a half-second, the girl looked suprisingly solemn.

"They... they won't be back."

"They're... are they dead?" said Haruhi.

The girl nodded.

"I'm sorry. That's really unfortunate." said Haruhi. "Well, do you have an older sibling taking care of you or anything like that?"

"I have an older brother."

"Good. Where is he?"

"He's..."

"Dead too?"

"No! No. He's not dead."

"Satoko-san, who are you-" said a voice from inside.

The voice's source, another small girl, froze when she saw us. She looked to be about the same age as the first girl. She had a much rounder-looking face, with long purple hair, straight-cut bangs, and big purple eyes. She was currently wearing a green sundress. Her suprised expression and thin body gave her a very waifish look.

"...you look familiar. Have I seen you before? Like, sometime in the past?"

Personally, I'd call that an interesting choice of words, considering who else has said that to me.

"No, I don't believe we had," said Haruhi, rising back up. "Is this your house, too?"

"It is, sir." Sir? Haruhi is in no way a "sir".

_That's who I was talking about._

Oh, great, not you again.

_Her... I think I remember her. She managed to strike me. She wasn't human... then._

I saw the waifish girl's eyes get wider, and she took a step back, as if... as if the spirit was talking to her. Okay, something's wrong with this.

_Don't let her hurt me..._

"So, where are your parents?" asked Haruhi.

"Oh, they're currently sleeping in the ground, sir."

"In the... oh. Oh, that's unfortunate. So, who's your guardian, then?"

"We take care of ourselves, sir."

So, these two girls are both orphans (adorable orphans, I might add), living all by themselves, looking out for only each other. Judging by her expressions and the occasional mouthed word, Haruhi and I were sitting next to each other on the same train of thought.

"Wow, that's so cool! I thought orphans only lived like that in fiction!"

Haruhi reached out and petted the blonde girl on the head. Suddenly, the blonde girl's expression snapped to one of terror, and she swatted Haruhi's arm away like it had just been pulled from the forge. Then she blinked, and the terror was gone. Okay, what is up with these girls?

"...she doesn't like being petted, sir." said the waiflike girl.

Haruhi tilted her head slightly, then nodded.

"So, how can we help you?" said the blonde girl.

"Well, I was going to ask if me and my friends-"

She gestured at the rest of us.

"-if we could stay here, but I don't really know-"

"Oh, we'd be happy to let you stay with us for the night." said the waiflike girl.

"Well, it'd be a lot longer than that, actually. A week, at least."

"Oh. That's problematic, sir. But you can still stay here at least for one night."

"Thanks a bunch."

"My name is Furude Rika, and this is Hojo Satoko. Come in, come in."

We entered the house. It looked exactly as small on the inside as it did on the outside. I don't even know if we could all fit in the main room. "Problematic" is a bit of an understatement. (Speaking of which, I'm not sure if a ten-year-old should know that word. These two are very interesting, indeed.)

As we switched our outside shoes for our inside ones, Rika lightly rested her hand on Nagato's shoulder.

"Don't hurt anyone, okay, sir?"

"..."

Wait, "don't hurt anyone"? I mean, true, Nagato could kick Godzilla's ass singlehandedly, but one, she only releases the whoopass if something wants to munch me, stab me, or possibly if I ask politely, and two, you don't know that.

"Oh, we didn't interrupt you in the middle of dinner, did we?" said Asahina-san.

"Oh, no, we're actually making it right now." said Satoko. "Do you like curry?"

"Eh, it isn't my favorite, but I'll eat it." said Haruhi.

"That's good. Um, sir," said Rika, turning to me, "would you mind helping us out in the kitchen?"

"Of course he wouldn't." said Haruhi.

I would have said yes anyway...

"Thank you, sir."

Me, Satoko, and Rika went into the kitchen while the rest of the SOS Brigade sat down and started talking. Now, I know perfectly well how to make curry, but our author lacks knowledge that me, Tanigawa-sama, and probably most Japanese people have about the curry-making process, so it'll have to be glossed over.

As it was being made, Rika was humming a song. As I passed closer to her, I realized she was singing something really quietly.

_"Please, hold my hand, as I lay here, my blood flowing down like tears, and up to the final moment, we can smile together..."_

She looked at me and looked embarassed.

"It's a religious song, sir. Um, can you get something for us to drink from the fridge?"

"Yeah, sure."

She beamed at me.

"Nipaa~"

Alright, who the hell is this girl? She communes (or at least can hear) spirits, she sings really disturbing "religous" songs. I mean, I don't know of any religious songs that involves imagery of flowing blood. Must be some messed-up religion. I'd grill her here and now if Haruhi wasn't in the next room.

I opened the fridge. Inside was an almost-empty bottle of soy sauce, two bowls of tofu, a carton of grape juice, various other things, and, in the back...

"Umm..."

"Yes, sir?" said Rika.

I pulled the wine bottle out of the fridge.

"Oh, that?" Rika started blushing. "Uh, well, sir, that's for when... when guests come over. Right, yes, that's it."

"...I don't believe you in the slightest."

"Hey, you have wine?" said Haruhi, from the other room. "I'll have some!"

"Yes, I think I'd like some, too." said Koizumi.

Rika, blushing so much she looked like a beet, took the wine bottle from me.

"Thanks for the help, sir. We can take it from here."

As I walked back into the main room, I heard Satoko say "I didn't know we had wine..."

"Something's up here." I said.

"Yeah, you're right." said Haruhi. "What's with the wine?"

Eventually, Satoko served us our curry, and Rika served the drinks. Everyone got identical-looking, deep purple, presumably grape-derived drinks. I took a sniff of mine. Didn't smell like wine. Please, don't get Haruhi drunk. That's just asking for trouble.

"So," said Satoko, "who are you?"

"My name is Suzumiya Haruhi. I'm the leader of the SOS Brigade."

"SOS...?" said Rika, tilting her head.

"These four dunces."

"Oh, alright," said Satoko.

"More importantly, sir," said Rika, "why are you here?"

"Because we needed a place to stay for the-" said Haruhi.

"I meant here, in Hinamizawa, sir."

Haruhi was cut off from speaking by Koizumi raising his hand to shush her.

"We are in town to view the Watanagashi festival. It's something of a hobby of mine to go and see various festivals of all sizes, and a friend of a friend recommended this one to me. So, I decided to ask Suzumiya-san if we could attend, and she said yes."

Rika took a long, meaningful sip of her "juice".

"Very nice, sir. I don't think I've ever met a better actor than you. I would have believed you if I didn't know that that was not true."

Satoko tilter her head. "You mean that wasn't true?"

"No. They're investigating Oyashiro-sama's curse."

She looked at me. Oh god, it's more like she's staring through me and deep into my soul. Is she trying to see my inner self or something?

"Aren't you?"

That's unnerving as hell. Cut it out.

She looked back at Koizumi.

"Well..." Koizumi chuckled and smiled. "You are very clever, Furude-san. We are indeed investigating the curse, although I wasn't completely lying when I said that I want to see the festival. In fact, it wasn't even my idea. I am in Hinamizawa because Suzumiya-san wills it."

"Because Suzumiya-san wills it?" Really? You sound like you worship her. In fact, I'd buy it if you said that Haruhiism was your official religion.

"You sound like you worship her, sir." said Rika.

Oh, great, she's dictating my thoughts, now. Stop with the creepiness!

Rika looked at me and blushed.

"I'm sorry if I creep you out, sir."

"Well," said Koizumi, "I don't worship her. Our relationship is defined by the SOS Brigade alone. Actually, I suppose I'd be an atheist. I do believe that beings with power approaching omnipotence exist, but they aren't omnipotent."

That sounds like you believe in godlike aliens. Not unjustified, true, but not something that you should say out loud.

And now that he mentions it, you're probably wondering what my creed is. Well, I'll just say that I'm not a Buddhist, and my religion has more than one god. That's all you get.

"Interesting. If you ask me, gods exist, sir." said Rika.

"Well, of course that'd be the answer if we asked you, Rika-chan." said Satoko. She turned to the rest of us. "She's Oyashiro-sama's shrine maiden."

"Who is Oyashiro-sama, anyway?" asked Haruhi.

"He's the main deity of Hinamizawa. He's who the Watanagashi festival is held for."

"Fascinating. So you're the number one expert on Oyashiro-sama, then?" said Koizumi.

"I'd say so." said Rika. Satoko nodded in agreement.

"And I'd assume that you'd kill us if we delved too deep into Hinamizawa's secrets?"

Rika looked suprised.

"What? Oh, no, no sir. I won't hurt you. But, well, I think I'm the exception rather than the rule. Please, just stick to trying to solve the mystery of the murders. Hinamizawa is a very dark place, and everyone has their skeletons in their closets. Don't open them, please. They'd get really mad."

Don't give Haruhi guidelines. She'd just go out of her way to break them for her amusement.

And dinner proceeded, as the dialogue turned to the nature of gods. Koizumi hit a stride, and I tuned it out. Eventually, it was time for us to go to bed.

"So... Just pick a spot, sir." said Rika.

"What, on the floor?" said Haruhi.

"Yeah. We don't have too many blankets, but it's summertime, so you should be fine."

"I think I have some sleeping bags in one of these..." said Asahina-san.

As Asahina-san looked through the bag, I mentally surveyed the floor.

"There's not enough room for all of us. Unless any of you can sleep standing up, someone can't sleep here."

"Well, I guess you can sleep with me, sir." said Rika.

The slack-jawed look that Haruhi gave me and Rika was something so spectacular that I could barely contain myself. Seriously, this moment is the number one reason that this story should be adapted into visual media.

It took Rika a few seconds to get why Haruhi was making that face.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not like that at all, sir!" Rika was beet red. "I mean that there's more room upstairs."

"Well... fine. But Kyon, I don't care how you usually sleep, you're wearing pants tonight."

Before Rika could say anything, Haruhi turned and left.

"Are you sure it's okay?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it." said Satoko.

I went up the stairs. There wasn't much in the way of furniture. Just closets and mats.

"Well, maybe over there, by the window. Does that work?" said Satoko.

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, good night."

Satoko laid down on the mat, pulled a cover over herself, and went to sleep.

"Good night, sir." said Rika.

I laid down on the spot Satoko pointed out, pulled a cover over me, and tried to sleep.

After a few minutes, I heard someone next to me stir.

"Kyon."

I stirred and look. Rika was sitting up, looking at me.

"Hmm?" I said.

"Oh, sorry, did I wake you up?" she said.

"No, I didn't fall asleep yet."

"That's your name, isn't it? Kyon?"

"Uh... I guess so."

Woah woah woah. Hold the freaking phone. Haruhi never gave you our names. I don't remember me or anyone else mentioning my name. How the hell do you know that?

Rika looked over at Satoko. She was out like a light. Rika looked back at me.

"Before today, have you ever heard of the name Furude Rika?"

Holy crap, that was not Rika's voice. It was creepy and cold. You know, you suck at the not creeping me out thing.

"No... no, I haven't."

"I see. You... you don't know who I am?"

"Nope. No clue."

"Oh..."

She sighed. She looked... depressed. Was I really supposed to know her?

"Well, just remember this: Hinamizawa is going to go into a dark time, soon. But it's still light right now. Enjoy the bright days while they last, because they won't."

"What do you mean, "dark time?"

"You'll see. Or hopefully, you won't. Just try to satisfy your leader enough so that she'll leave, and do that as soon as you can, before bad things happen."

"Bad things?"

"I don't want to see you suffer. And also, out of anyone in Hinamizawa, even your friends, I will always believe you. No matter what happens to everyone else."

She looked at me with an expression of utmost sincerity.

"I'm your friend, Kyon. No matter what happens."

"Why do I get the special treatment?" I asked.

"If you are who I remember... but... I don't, really. All I can remember is that your face, and your name, were attatched to a very good person."

I heard Haruhi stir loudly from downstairs.

"Get some sleep, sir."

And the normal voice is back. If that's even her normal voice, that is.

Look, this whole "I'm your friend, no matter what" thing is a lot harder to buy when you're both putting on this creepy child schtick and not explaining a damn thing. I don't trust you yet. At all.

I laid back down and tried to get some sleep. I wasn't unsucessful, but it was mostly nightmares. I don't remember what it was, only that the final, lingering image was Haruhi with a perfect hole in her forehead.

I stirred and looked around. Rika wasn't in her "bed".

She was sitting in an alcove in the corner of the room, holding a bottle of wine.

_She was the reason for... for this._

Ah, strange spirit. We meet again.

"Oh. But did she hurt you in this time?"

I knew it. She _is_ talking with that spirit.

_No... she didn't hurt me. I ran before she had the chance._

"Well, was she like the girl that almost killed me so long ago?"

_No... I think she might be okay this time. But it's too early to make judgment._

Who are they talking about? Nagato? Haruhi? Someone else?

_I don't feel comfortable with them around. Not even the one you're fond of._

"Well, it's just for one night. I'm still amazed that, after so, so long, they return. I knew for sure that that was just a side story, like an extra picture in a flip book."

_But him... Kyon, wasn't it?_

"Who is that?" I asked.

_Oh, he's awake..._

"Who is who?" said Rika. She only seemed like she was partially trying to cover up something.

_I'd like to know that, too._

"Her. That spirit. The one that you're talking to right now." I said.

_Does he mean me?_

Yes, I mean you!

_...how? There's no way that he can know that I'm here. It's impossible._

Rika's eyes somehow went even wider than they were. I'd estimate that 1/3 of her face is ocular right now.

_Au au au..._

"You can hear her?"

_I... I think that it's a really bad thing that he's hearing me..._

"Yes. Who is she?"

_Only... only... the only ones that could hear me were the ones that... auu..._

At this point, this spirit seems to be in despair. Then, she was silent. The room was soundless. I think I scared her off...

"You did."

Rika's eyes relinquished control of her face. She took a sip of wine, and smiled solemnly.

"Her name is Hanyuu. Don't worry, she won't hurt you. She can't harm anything."

"Alright, that's good to know. Can you get her to stop stalking me?"

"...I guess so. How can you hear her? Nobody else can besides the two of us. And only this time."

She said something about others that could, but only if they could... something. And what's that about "this time"? More mysteries. Freakin' fantastic.

Rika left the alcove, went downstairs, returned sans bottle, and went back to her bed.

"Good night, Kyon."

Who is Furude Rika? More importantly, who is Hanyuu? And what connection do they have to me? What the hell is going on in Hinamizawa?

* * *

The rest of the night passed relatively smoothly. The thought of the strange girl sleeping next to me kept rattling in my head, making my sleep uneasy.

I wasn't alone. When I had gone down at around four A.M. to get something to drink, I saw that Nagato was sitting up. She was trembling. When I asked her what was wrong, she only said one thing.

"There is... nothing."

Even after a bit of prodding from me, those three words were all that she said.

But as of now, she seems as energetic and talkative as she usually is. But it's probably the first time I've seen her look tired.

She wasn't the only one that didn't have a good night's sleep. According to Haruhi, Asahina-san had a pretty bad nightmare. But any worries of ours are long gone.

We had eaten a light breakfast, and now Satoko and Rika are taking us down to the school to meet her friends.

Walking around Hinamizawa like this, I might have to change my original impression. If you just ignore the murders, the strange spirits, and the creepy children, it's actually quite lovely. The air feels great, the architecture of the houses is beautiful, the climate is nice, there's no sounds around besides the natural ones, and every so often, you pop out onto a fantastic vista overlooking the town or some other beauty. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that this town scares me, I'd move here.

We passed a few people on the way there. They seemed to not care for us until they saw Rika or, in one case, Satoko. They greeted the passerby by name when we passed. When one of us asked who we are, Rika just said that we were "friends".

"You know," said Haruhi, after a while, "for a so-called cursed town, it's really nice and... oh, what's the word. I dunno. It just feels more like light than darkness, that's all."

Well, I see that _you_ were sleeping soundly through the night. Lucky.

"Oh, you won't be disappointed, Suzumiya-san." said Rika.

After about five minutes, Satoko suddenly raced ahead of us.

"Wait, I still need to get Keiichi-kun today. I'll meet you there!" she said, and she was out of sight.

Eventually, we came up to a building. If this was the school, it was really tiny. And it doesn't even look like a school.

"Oh, it's the school. Well, we use it for a school, anyway." said Rika. "If I recall correctly, we're just renting it out from the forest services to use as a school."

"And this building is used by the whole town as their school?" said Asahina-san.

"Well, while it's for all grades, only about half of the town goes here. The other half goes into Okinomiya to the school there."

"Well, that's interesting." said Haruhi.

"Hey, Rika-chan!"

A boy ran up to Rika and us. He looked athletic, thinner and with a bit more muscle than either me or Koizumi. He had brown hair, purple (is that a common eye color for this region or something?) eyes, and his expression was friendly enough. He was wearing a white shirt and brown shorts. All in all, he looked like an archetypical country boy, the sort that's usually the love interest for the "city mouse" heroine.

"Keiichi-kun! Good to see you! I thought you'd be there by now!" said Rika.

"Hey, I didn't expect to be called in on a Sunday. Especially to school."

He looked at us and blinked.

"Who are these guys?" he said. "Friends of yours?"

"Oh, they're just in town for the festival. We just met last night. They're looking for a place to stay."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." said Haruhi. "Thanks for the hospitality, but your house isn't made to hold seven. And you talk really loud in your sleep."

Rika blushed. Haruhi walked over to the boy and shook his hand.

"I'm Suzumiya Haruhi. Pleasure is mine."

"Maebara Keiichi. Nice to meet you, too."

He looked past Haruhi, at the rest of us.

"And who are the others?"

"Oh, they're the SOS Brigade." said Haruhi.

"The... the what?"

He tilted his head.

"SOS Brigade?"

"That's right! The **S**aving the World by **O**verloading it with Fun **S**uzumiya Haruhi **Brigade**!"

And Keiichi burst into laughter.

"Ahahahahahaha! What, really? That's your group's name? Oh, man, I'm sorry, but that's the dumbest name I've ever heard!"

I like this guy already.

Haruhi pouted and crossed her arms.

"Well, I like it. It's gets the point across."

A point which seems to mean nothing, but whatever.

"So, is everyone already there?" said Keiichi.

"Satoko ran ahead, but I don't know about the others." said Rika.

"Did she now..."

"You know, come to think of it, what the heck are we doing here, anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, we're playing a few games. I'm sure you'll have fun." said Rika.

"Well, I am sure that we will." said Koizumi. "Shall we enter?"

"Sure."

She led the group and Keiichi into the building and down the halls. Eventually, we reached what I assume is the classroom, Keiichi stopped us.

"Well, Suzumiya-san, go on in."

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Ladies first."

"Sir, I really don't think that-" said Rika, but she was cut off from saying anything else by Keiichi patting her vigorously on the head.

"Uh... okay." said Haruhi skeptically, as she opened the door-

-and a pan full of flour dropped straight onto her head. Keiichi burst into laughter. The people inside the room laughed as well. I admit, I had to turn away so that nobody could see my expression.

"Oh ho ho ho ho... wait, you're not Keiichi-kun." said Satoko. The laughter stopped.

Haruhi was standing almost unnaturally still. The pan was obscuring her expression.

I looked at Rika. Her eyes were consuming her face again, and I saw her mouth "oh, god".

_Now, don't worry... let's not jump to conclusions, now. Maybe she isn't sick this time._

The pan fell from Haruhi's face. Her expression was, pardon the pun, deadpan. That, combined with the powdered face, made it, hands down, the funniest thing that I have ever seen.

"Who did this?"

"That would be Satoko." said a female voice from inside the room.

Haruhi entered the room.

"What? No! I would never do anything like this!"

There was another clang, followed by laughter. I could hear Satoko groan.

"There. We're even, now." said Haruhi.

There was more laughter from inside, including Haruhi's. I saw Rika breathe a sigh of relief.

"Aww, but that was an accident! I didn't even know you would be the first through the door." said Satoko.

Keiichi entered the room.

"Ah, so you were trying to get _me_, eh?"

"What? I would do no such thing!"

There was more laughter.

"Come in, come in." said a voice from inside. We did so.

It was pretty much empty, except for Haruhi (who was spinning the pan around like a top), Satoko (the wearer of said pan, which was distended to the point were it looked like a _sugegasa_), Keiichi (aiding Haruhi in her endeavor), and two girls.

"Oh, hello."

The first one had long green hair up in a ponytail. She was wearing a long pink skirt, a white shirt, and a brown vest above that. The main thing that popped out to me about her was her chest. Very impressive. Not quite as large as Asahina-san, even present-day Asahina-san, but much more, shall we say, taut. I'm not a pervert who's staring at a lady's chest, I'm merely being thorough in my observations. Anyway, she had green eyes and an overall athletic build.

"Why, hello there."

The second one had short, red-orange hair in a sort of "pudding cup" style. She was wearing a rather generic blue, yellow, and white serafuku. She had big, sea-blue, beautiful eyes, and a friendly smile.

"So, I supposed that you guys are the new arrivals that Rika-chan mentioned?" said the green-haired girl.

"Yes, sir!" said Rika. "They call themselves the SOS Brigade."

"Oh, that's an interesting name," said the redhaired girl. "I wonder what it means?"

"It means-"

I cut Haruhi off with a raised hand.

"It doesn't matter. They don't need to know the whole name."

I caught Keiichi whispering something in the green-haired girl's ear. She laughed.

"Well, it's quite nice to meet you." said the green-haired girl. "I am Sonozaki Mion. And you are?"

"I'm Haruhi. Nice to meet you, too."

Is Haruhi actively going out of her way to be as callous as possible?

"Haruhi...?"

"Suzumiya. Suzumiya Haruhi."

"Well, Suzumiya-san, you are certainly forward, aren't you."

Calling Haruhi "forward" in that context is like calling a typhoon "blustery". Which one is more destructive is up to interpretation.

"Yes, she can be like that at times." said Koizumi. "I would call her the perfect definition of the blithe spirit."

You know, either you're referencing a play that I know you've never heard of or you're referencing Shelley, who I know you couldn't understand.

"My name is Ryuugu Rena," said the redheaded girl. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Rena, huh?" said Koizumi. He walked up to her and grabbed her hand. "Koizumi Itsuki. The pleasure is mine."

Rena blushed. Haruhi rolled her eyes and pulled Koizumi away.

"Don't flirt. It's not like we'll ever see them again after we leave, anyway."

"Well, Suzumiya-san, it never hurts to make a good first impression."

"Well, Suzumiya-san, go get washed up." said Mion. "We still need to get the classroom set up."

"Alright. Where's the nearest bathroom?"

"I'll show you where it is," said Satoko, removing the pan from her head. "I need to wash myself off, too."

"Alright."

Satoko and Haruhi exited the classroom.

"Well, we need to set it up." said Mion. "Can you guys help us move all the desks into the center?"

"Gladly," said Koizumi.

As we were doing so, Rika walked over to Keiichi.

"Sir, you need to be more careful around her."

"Who, Suzumiya?"

"Yes. She... she can get really awful if she's pushed too far."

"What, does she have a bad temper?"

"No, she just... never mind, never mind. Forget I said anything."

That's a surefire way to make us remember everything you said in crystal clarity.

She smiled at us.

"Nipaa~"

Ugh, my teeth. You are damn good at acting like an adorable child.

Haruhi and Satoko entered the classroom, clean as whistles.

"So, Suzumiya-san, I admit, I'm fascinated by you." said Mion.

"Really?" said Haruhi.

"Yep. Where are you from?"

"Oh, we're from-", and I am going to censor what she had said because I do not want you bastards coming into my home town and wrecking my life with all of the information that you have doubtlessly picked up from my stories.

"Really?" said Rena. "That's really far away, isn't it?"

"Eh, we're basically on the same latitude, according to the maps."

"But still, Hinamizawa is really out of the way. How'd you find out about here?" said Keiichi.

"Oh, I just Googled 'supernatural murders in Japan', and this was the easiest one to get to."

Good grief, you just revealed our true intentions.

"What do you mean by 'googled'?" asked Satoko.

"You know, googling. To google. It's where you look something up on a search engine."

"What's that?" said Mion.

"You don't know? Haven't any of you used the internet before?"

"Nope." said Rika.

"Never heard of it." said Keiichi.

"You haven't even heard of the... wow, I didn't expect this town to be so... backwater."

"I have another question." said Rena.

"Yeah, alright." said Haruhi.

"Why are you in Hinamizawa? Are you in town for the festival?"

Haruhi was about to answer, but Rika cut her off.

"They are, sir."

You saw through it the other day. Why aren't you telling your friends the whole truth?

_She... she wants to keep you safe._

I thought I told you to stop stalking me.

_I'm not watching you..._

"Well, alright, then. So, let's get this show on the road, shall we?" said Mion.

"So, what are we doing?" I asked.

"Well... Rika, why don't you explain. You called us out here."

"It's just what we usually do, sir." said Rika. "Games and such."

"Right. Well, we-"

She gestured to Keiichi, Rena, Satoko, and Rika.

"-are the Games Club."

I could see Haruhi mutter "And you think _we_ have a dumb name".

"That's pretty much what we do in a nutshell."

Mion walked over to a closet and opened it. It was filled to the brim with, well, games.

"So, Rena, should we start with basic games, or should we go straight to the punishment games?"

Haruhi cocked her head.

"Punishment games? You mean, like S&M?"

Rena could not have gone redder quicker if she had been splashed with paint.

"W-what? No no no! Not at all! It's not like that at all."

Actually, from my first impressions from Keiichi and Mion, it doesn't seem to implausible.

"What's that?" said Rika. Keiichi whispered something into her ear, and she went red as well.

"We don't do anything of the sort, sir!"

"We usually just do silly things." said Mion.

"Yeah, like doodle on someone's face with marker, or stick Keiichi in embarrasing costumes." said Satoko.

"Hey! That's a lie!" said Keiichi. "It's the losers that get stuck in the costumes."

"That's what I said."

If this was a cartoon of some sort, Keiichi would have had steam shooting out of his ears.

"Costumes, you say?" said Haruhi. "Like, maids and cheerleaders, stuff like that, right?"

"Uh, I think we have a few things like that." said Rena.

"Can I see them? The SOS Brigade has a monumental collection of cosplay, and I want to see if you guys can match up."

We have a half-dozen costumes, give or take. That's about as monumental as a backyard shrine.

"Uh, sure, I guess." said Mion. "They're back in the closet, on the left, but watch for the-"

But Haruhi was already in the closet, rummaging through it like a badger in a trash can. After a bit of searching...

"Haouu~3!"

Gah, don't make that sound! That's inappropriate as all hell! I mean, there's freaking children in here! Oh, god, the mental image...

"Holy crap, you're packed! Maid outfits, cat ears- is that a _swan_? Wow, Rena would look great in that!"

"That wasn't for Rena..." muttered Mion.

"Ah! Look at this, Mikuru-chan!"

Haruhi popped out, holding an _extremely_ small one-piece swimsuit that appeared to have been crossed with a catgirl's regalia.

"This would look great on you!"

"Ah... no, no it wouldn't!" said Asahina-san, going pale and blushing at the same time and looking so damn adorable.

"Yeah, that thing is for little kids!" said Keiichi.

"So? It'd still fit."

Actually, while it'd would be really, really, really tight, most certainly only barely covering the vital regions while still outlining them with perfect precision, and covering the absolute minimum of her assets... nah, it'd probably just snap. That, or she'd be arrested for indecent exposure.

Haruhi stepped towards Asahina-san, wielding a grin that should rather be purring and batting at a ball of yarn.

Asahina-san looked... adorable. The cower, the blushing, the trembling lip, the eyes brimming with tears...

And then there was a faint "pop".

"Hauu~!"

Rena beat me to the punch. Her nose spurting blood, she glomped Asahina-san.

"Mikuru-chan is soooo adowable~!"

"Eep, don't grab me there..."

Rena hugged her even tighter. Gah, so close to overload, where are the tissues...

"So cute~! I want to take her home with me~!"

"Well..." said Rika, "that's actually a good idea, sir."

"What? I can really take her home?"

"Yeah, if she doesn't mind."

"Do you mind, Mikuru-chan~?"

"Eep..."

"Yay! Rena is so happy right now~!"

You lucky bitch.

"Well, sir," said Rika, "I called you guys here because these new people came into town. They don't have a place to stay. They were staying at my house, but it's much too small for seven people. Can some of them stay with you guys?"

"Sure, no problem for me." said Keiichi.

"Yeah, sounds great." said Haruhi. "One of us per one of you. Works out perfectly."

Did you not notice that the young ones were sharing a house?

"Sir, there's only four houses." said Rika.

"Oh... well, I don't suppose that one of you could double up?" said Haruhi.

"We'll see." said Mion.

"So..." said Haruhi, "Mion, I'd like to stay with you."

We're choosing already?

"Eh?" said Mion.

"Yeah. You're a leader, I'm a leader. It works out great!"

"Uh, actually..."

Haruhi grabbed onto Mion's tie.

"Please?"

"Uh, well," Mion laughed a laugh of someone forced into an awkward and unfightable situation. "Well, _I_ have no problem with-"

"Great!" Haruhi let go of her tie and wrapped her arm around Mion's shoulders. "Mion and I are goung to be staying together. Now, what about you guys?"

"Well, I think one of us has been chosen." said Koizumi, nodding toward Rena.

"_Hauu~"_

"Well, what about you, Keiichi-kun?" said Satoko.

"I don't know. I'll have to see who you pick."

"Well, I'll just let Rika pick for me, then."

"Oh?" said Rika. "Um, well... I'm going to pick Kyon."

"Well, thanks, but no thanks. I can't really sleep in your house." I said.

Plus, there's the inherent air of creepy.

"Oh... that's really unfortunate. To be honest... you're the only one I want to stay with."

"You know, Rika," said Mion, smirking, "do you have a crush on him?"

That _is_ what it's coming off as.

By the way, that's completely one-sided. I do not have a crush on her whatsoever. That's not even denial; she's a youth. There's not a single lolicon fiber in my being.

Rika blushed and looked startled.

"N-no, I don't have a crush on him, Mi-chan. I just... I'd want him near me so I can keep him safe, that's all."

Here, let me take that shovel before you dig yourself too deep.

"Ohohoho..." Satoko laughed. Wow, that's a hell of a cackle. "Rika-chan, I didn't know you like older boys! Keiichi-san better watch out!"

Rika and Keiichi both went "bwuh!" in exactly the same way.

"I-I-I don't! Look, I know, I'll pick..."

She started to point at Nagato, but-

_Please... not her._

-only hesitated on her for a moment before pointing at someone else.

_I don't want to risk myself..._

"Koizumi, correct?"

"Yes. I'd be happy to stay with you." The intonation implied a bit of bewilderment, not that any of them could tell.

"Alright, that just leaves Kyon and Yuki." said Haruhi.

"I'll go with Keiichi." I said. "He seems like he'd be alright to stay with."

"Sure, no problem."

"So, that just leaves Nagato, then."

Nagato looked up from her book that I swore wasn't brought in with her.

"None."

"What?" said Haruhi. "Yuki, you need to stay somewhere!"

"Not necessarily. I can... there are hotels in Okinomiya. I will rent myself a room."

"Yuki, you should stay in Hinamizawa. It's a long commute from here to there." said Haruhi.

"I will walk."

"Well..." Haruhi tilted her head. "You sure that there's nowhere else?"

"...yes."

"Well, suit yourself."

"Well, now that that's done with, what should we play?" said Keiichi.

"Hmmm..." said Haruhi, starting to pace. "Well, when I decided to come to Hinamizawa, I was expecting scary things. You know, like cu-"

Haruhi stopped. Rika had pulled on her sleeve. She raised a tiny finger to her lips.

"Well, anyway, I'm in the mood to be scared, so here's my idea; we all sit in a circle, and we have, like, tokens or something. We go around, naming things that are scary, like, say, blood. If we're scared, we pitch the token. Whoever has their token last wins."

"That... er..." said Mion.

"That doesn't really sound fun." said Satoko.

"Well, I'm willing to play it." said Keiichi. He leaned toward Haruhi. "Rena cheats at all the games that we play." he said in a stage whisper.

Rena snapped out of her Asahina-powered trance and started giving Keiichi weepy eyes.

"I... I'm not the only one who cheats!"

"Oh. Right. That is true." Keiichi smirked. "I was mistaken; all of my friends cheat."

"Hey!"

"No I don't!"

"Only when they do, sir!"

"Fine, let's do this," said Satoko. "I know I can beat Keiichi at anything!"

"Alright, you can try." said Keiichi. "Good luck with that."

We all sat around the group of tables. Rika was on my right, and Nagato was on my left. Mion got out some poker chips from the closet and gave everyone one before sitting down.

"Well... Suzumiya-san, start us off." said Mion. "I still don't quite get this game."

"Alright." Haruhi leaned forward, furrowed her brow, and pursed her lips. "Something scary, something scary... I know! How about getting a fingernail ripped out?"

There was a mutual wince and shudder. Some of us covered our hands.

"That does sound painful..." said Aasahina-san.

"Ooh, are you out, Mikuru?"

"Ummm... no, I'm not really scared by that, to be honest."

"What? Really? Is anyone scared by that?"

Most of us shook our heads or did some other representation of "no". Haruhi pouted and slumped back in her seat.

"While it sounds like it'd be painful, and certainly the circumstances could be scary," said Mion, "the actual nail-ripping just sorta sounds like it'd suck."

Haruhi (who was sitting to the left of Mion) looked at Mion, then looked at her hand and ran her fingers over Mion's fingernails. Mion drew her hand back, looking embarassed in a disturbingly deredere sort of way.

"Just a dumb thing my sister did, that's all..." she muttered.

I caught a glimpse of her hand; three fingernails were missing. Fortunately, if anyone was looking at Mion, they'd be too distracted by the (presumably) accidental lesbian undertones.

"Alright, my turn." said Keiichi. "How about... being chased by a swarm of angry bees?"

"Ooh, good one." said Satoko.

"Yeah, that'd really suck." said Haruhi. "I think I'm out."

She threw her chip into the center.

"I'm out as well." said Koizumi.

He flipped his chip into the center. Asahina-san and Rena followed suit.

Next up was Rika. Well, this should be interesting.

"Well... I saw this on a TV show once, and it was really scary."

I don't recall you having a TV.

"Anyway... the main girl woke up one day, and it was two weeks ago! Everyone acted the same way as they did the weeks before. And when she went to bed at the end of _that_ week, it went back to two weeks ago, too! Week after week, she lived that week. She did that for years and years and years, only the same two boring, dull weeks! And she tried to tell her friends that this was going on, and while they believed her sometimes, over and over, they couldn't do anything to save her. She had to live the same two weeks for all eter-"

Nagato suddenly rose from her chair. For those of you who aren't as Nagato-savvy as I am, in conventional human terms, that'd be the equivalent of shouting "stop talking!" at the top of your lungs.

"Out."

She cast her chip into the center. Haruhi tilted her head.

"Really? I don't see how that's scary. I mean, really, time just goes in a straight line. It can't do stuff like that. It's a dumb concept."

"Different strokes for different folks, as they say." said Koizumi. Personally, considering that you _caused_ such an occurence, Haruhi, the hypocrisy is vaguely amusing.

Nagato looked at Haruhi. I saw her eyebrows lower a fraction of a centimeter.

"So, it's my turn now?" I said.

"Yeah."

I leaned back and smirked.

"I have a good one."

Oh, I'm going to hell for this.

"Alright... watching your brother or sister die a horrible and painful death, right in front of you, and you could have done something to save him or her, but you didn't do it, so it's all your fault."

Hey, that would scare the hell out of me. Or maybe it'd just scar the hell out of me.

The reaction was a big one. Mion flinched, closed her eyes, and turned away. Satoko looked like she was a mirror that I had just shattered. Everyone else, except for the empathy-devoid (and I presume sibling-devoid as well) Haruhi, looked shocked or unnerved at what I said.

Yep, Beezlebub definetely has a devil set aside for me.

I felt a tug on my right sleeve.

Rika's eyes were saucer-sized. She looked like I had just given the order to invade Manchuria.

"S-sir, why did you say that?"

"Hey, it's scary, isn't it?"

"Well, it is, but that's way too much! You don't know how personal something like that is!"

Hey, I didn't stop you with your story, which is, if slightly stranger, even harder hitting for one of us.

Mion opened her eyes.

"I'm out."

Keiichi walked over to Satoko, who wasn't really moving. You could see the tragic mental movie playing in her head.

"Are you okay, Satoko-san?"

Judging by the way she's shivering, I'd say that's a no.

I think I broke her. Whoops.

"Look, Satoko-san," I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know that that would hit so close to home."

"Satoko...?" said Rena, walking over to her as well.

After a few seconds, Satoko started moving again. She smiled and looked at me.

"That was a good one. I'm out."

She laughed and threw her chip into the center, as if her reaction to my scary tale didn't happen.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault." said Satoko. "I'm alright. You're really good at scaring people."

Slowly, the friendly atmosphere started filtering back in. The game continued, until Haruhi decided to speak again.

"Oh... oh, I see." she said.

"See what?"

"Satoshi died, didn't he?"

The result wasn't the equivalent of slamming on the breaks. Oh, no, it was the equivalent of being stopped instantly by running over a giant electromagnet. Rena and Mion looked at Haruhi, their smiles immediately dropping.

"No." said Mion.

"He transfered out, that's all." said Rena.

And then, they went straight back to the game. I didn't just imagine that, did I?

Keiichi tilted his head, showing that I wasn't hallucinating. You could see the question mark radiate from his head.

"Who is Satoshi? I haven't heard you mention him."

Neither have I.

"Isn't he Satoko's brother?" said Haruhi.

"Well, yes, but... nobody had told you that, sir." said Rika.

"Really? You haven't?"

"Nope."

"Huh. I know something that I couldn't have known. Eerie. Awesome, in a sense, but eerie..."

Eventually, the game wrapped up (thanks to my already-crazy life filling me with enough cynicism to incapacitate a horse, I won, but Haruhi insisted that I was disqualifed due to "scarring of the innocent", so I gave the victory to Rika), and we started packing up.

"Well, that was fun." said Rena.

"Yeah, I suppose so." said Koizumi. "I suppose we shall get going?"

"Yep. I'll call all of you sooner or later, alright?" said Haruhi.

"Sounds like a plan."

And so, we left the school in relative silence.

"See you later, Kyon!" said Haruhi, as the SOS Brigade divided itself.

I waved goodbye and walked off with Keiichi.

"So... are your friends like that all the time?" I said.

"What, when your friend said Satoshi?" said Keiichi.

"Yeah."

"No, I can't say that they are. But I wouldn't be one to know."

"Hm?"

"Yeah, I only came to Hinamizawa about a month ago."

Really? Well, I was fooled.

"So, we're both going in blind, then?" I said.

"Going into what?"

"Whatever is in Hinamizawa."

"Uhh... I guess, although personally, it's not that bad."

He shrugged.

"But I don't know... I suppose I could see things getting darker..."

"I just hope that Hinamizawa doesn't kill me."

"Yeah, me too."

* * *

I got really lucky with my choice of roommate. Keiichi's house was probably the best possible option. In fact, and I apologize to my dear mom and dad, but I want to live here.

For starters, his house was _huge_. I did not expect Keiichi to live in a goddamn mansion. The only thing that bugged me about it was a lack of any technology that came after the mid-eighties. That's a point that I'll come back to.

His parents were very kind, and welcoming to me. His dad was an artist, and his mom was a housewife.

And, best of all, it wasn't too close to Hinamizawa. With any luck, nobody will go out of their way to bug me.

Hinamizawa is probably at its prettiest out here. That'd be because any black spots are out of focus at this distance.

I had a few phone calls that evening, and all of them were on the Maebara house phone. There wasn't a hint of reception in this town.

Haruhi called, asking how I was doing and ranting about how she was. Apparently, the Sonozaki family had an immense estate, which came complete with lots of rooms that, in her words, were "absolutely and utterly off-limits". I told her to listen to Mion's parents and not do anything stupid.

"Screw that! We'd be gone before they could do anything to us, anyway." she said. "And besides, her parents don't live here."

I really hope that she doesn't do anything overtly stupid, but only because I'm associated with her and I'd probably get punished in the same way that she would be.

I also had a call from Koizumi. He wanted to meet with me tomorrow, at some restaurant.

"Why then? It's not that dark out. Just ride over here."

"Well... there's a few things that I need to double-check, and another that needs to run overnight to get a baseline. But... if there's any merit to my theory, this situation may have gotten much, much worse."

"Oh, that's nice, so where did you want to meet with me?"

He gave me the address and the name: Angel Mort.

"It's not very hard to miss. I'll see you then."

And that was it.

After that, I had dinner with Keiichi and his parents. They made miso soup, and it was delicious.

"So, Kyon..." said Keiichi's dad, "I hope you're enjoying yourself here."

"I am." I said. "But, there's one little thing that's bugging me."

"What's that?" said Koizumi.

"It's your stuff."

"What about it?"

"Well, it seems... outdated. No offense, but don't you have anything made after 1985?"

They just looked at me like I was a bit odd in the head. Oh, crap, I think I just offended them. I hope there's not some dark reason why they don't have any new things.

"We..." Keiichi's mom laughed. "Of course we don't."

You say that so matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, we'd have to be time-travelers or something if we wanted stuff after then." said Keiichi.

"So, 1985... is in the future?" I said.

"Well, yeah. What year do you think this is, anyway?"

"Um, 2010."

They froze. Keiichi's mom gasped.

"...that's way off, I take it."

They nodded.

"Yeah, it's 1983." said Keiichi's dad.

"What? Really?"

They nodded.

"So, Shouwa's the emperor?"

"Yes."

"Oh... oh good god."

I have gone twenty-seven years into the past.

Goddamnit, Haruhi, I thought that this was going to be normal.

There was more silence. Then, Keiichi's dad burst into laughter.

"Well, well, well! Looks like we've got ourselves a time-traveler!"

Look, there's a difference between being a time-traveler and being someone who has gone back in time. I'm merely a victim of circumstance.

"So, what's the twenty-first century like?"

Figuring that they are so far off the beaten path as to be pretty much unable to screw with the timestream too much, and that a twenty-seven year difference is a drop in the temporal bucket, I decided to indulge them with a few facts about politics, the economy, and a few technical things.

"Oh, so that's what that internet thing is." said Keiichi.

"Yeah. You know, this whole being-in-the-past thing makes a few things make a lot of sense."

"Yeah. I suppose that a lot of the things that you're used to don't exist." said Keiichi's mom.

"Well, make sure that _nobody_ ever finds out about this, okay? Don't mention it or anything I've said to anyone."

"Alright, your secret is safe with us." said Keiichi's dad.

I don't really know if they believe me.

I was going to be sleeping in my own personal room. Did I mention that I chose well? That night, it wasn't a good night's sleep. I felt like... like someone was watching me. I sat up.

"...Hanyuu, isn't it?"

No response.

"Look, I thought I told you to stop following me and leave me alone."

No response.

"Look, I know you're in here, so go away!"

"Is something wrong?" said Keiichi, entering the room and looking very much like I had woken him up. "Is someone in here?"

"Oh, it's just... nevermind. I'll be quiet now."

"Alright. Uh, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead."

"Well, how did you get here? Into this year, I mean."

"I have no idea."

"Oh. Do you know if you can get back?"

"I..."

Oh, god. He has a point.

I could very well be stuck in 1983, with no way to get back home.

"Well... I'm sure my friends can think of something."

If Haruhi could get us into this (as she very well could), she can get us out. Or, failing that, Nagato can think of something. Or Asahina-san. Or Koizumi.

"Well, good luck, then."

And he left.

Sleep wasn't easy. All I could think of was how much Haruhi could ruin my life without trying.

Koizumi was right. Angel Mort was hard to miss. Having the name in giant letters on the front of the building certainly helps.

I parked my bike (or rather, Keiichi's bike) and headed inside.

Angel Mort wasn't a small establishment by a long shot. I think. I honestly couldn't give you a straight answer. The waitresses were too distracting for me to pay any attention to small details like that.

Disconnected, frilly sleeves. Lots of purple fabric, which, if I had to guess, was either leather or latex. Extremely frilly skirts. Loads of space between skirt and boot. A very nice drop in the neckline-

"Um, sir?"

I realized that I had zoned out and was inadvertandly ogling one of the waitresses. Goddamnit, Angel Mort, you're forcing me to be a pervert. Cut it out.

"Can I help you?" said the waitress.

"Uh, this is... a cosplay cafe?"

"Yes, I suppose you could call it that."

Why the heck would Koizumi want to meet me here?

"Well, yeah, I'm just meeting a friend here. Is there a Koizumi Itsuki-san here?"

She looked down at her lectern. I found myself looking down as well.

"Yes, he's over there."

She pointed to a booth. There he was, smiling and waving at me.

"Thanks," I said.

I sat down at the booth. Koizumi was smirking the same smile that he always did.

"Good to see you," he said.

"Alright, first off, why here?" I said.

"Well, we're in town. This signi-"

"I meant _here_. This is a freaking cosplay cafe!"

"No it isn't. There's only one kind of uniform. You could call it a sort of maid cafe."

The fact that you know the difference makes you look really sad.

"Anyway, it's quite covert. Would you expect the fate of the world as we know it to be discussed in a place like this?"

"The fate of the world, huh..."

He nodded.

"I have news."

"So do I."

"Here's your drink, sir." said a waitress, handing Koizumi what was probably some sort of soda. "And what you you like to drink, sir?"

"I'll have coffee. No cream, one sugar, and nice and hot."

On the off chance that Koizumi's news is so breathtaking that it would cause me to do a spit take, I want something that's hot enough to make him at the very least freak out.

The waitress bowed and left. Koizumi took a sip of his drink.

"So, you said that you have news."

"I do. Don't worry, it's probably more groundbreaking than yours."

That caused him to chuckle. You know, as creepy and unpleasant as he is, I end up hanging out with him way more than I should.

"Well, then, it must be pretty impressive. Let's hear it."

"This is 1983."

"What is?"

"The year."

"Oh?" He stopped smiling. "Isn't that beyond the deadline of time-travel?"

Don't ask me, I'm not the time-traveler.

He sighed and slumped back in his chair.

"That is indeed more of a bombshell than my news. Normally, that would be concerning, but in conjunction with the current circumstances, the magnitude has increased hundredfold."

"Define 'current circumstances'."

"Well, as of last night, Suzumiya-san is powerless."

"Really."

"I did a few tests. Suzumiya Haruhi has no discernable differences in her ultralogical footprint compared to yours."

I was silent for a bit.

"...the hell is an ultralogical footprint?"

"Basically, it's an artistic representation of how different one is from an unpowered individual, based on several factors. I can explain further if you like."

If you start, you're getting a salt shaker to the forehead.

He started smiling again for a second.

"And this isn't unique to her, either. I am completely devoid of my powers. And I'm compeletely cut off from the organization."

Well, that'd make sense, considering that they don't exist yet.

"Indeed. But, I checked in with Nagato, and she's much worse off than I am."

"How so?"

"She is completely cut off from the Integrated Data Thought Entity. No, that's not correct. Any part of her that was enough of the IDTE is gone. She can do no more than a normal human can. Probably less."

Completely cut off, huh. Well, she was completely serviced to an entity that had no emotions whatsoever. You have to admit, maybe not having that thing in her could have a bit of a silver lining-

"I don't know if you get it. Whatever good that could come from it is irrelevant. It'd be like having part of your soul taken from your being. But even then, I don't think that that's a good metaphor."

"And Asahina-san?" I asked.

"No idea. I haven't talked to her yet."

"Here's your coffee, sir." said a new waitress.

"Thanks." I said.

"Would either of you like something to eat?"

"Well..."

For the first time, I looked at our waitress. Hold on, those are familiar. I looked up at her face.

Well, I didn't expect that. Out of everyone that could have been our waitress, at the absolute bottom of the list was Mion. Nevertheless, there she was, looking fantastic in the waitress outfit.

"Well, Sonozaki-san, I didn't expect to see you here, and as our waitress, no doubt." said Koizumi.

"Oh, you must-"

"And I would like to apologize for the unnerving that we caused the other day. I didn't know that Satoshi was such a touchy subject."

Mion looked like she was about to say something, but she didn't.

"By the way, what was up with that?" I asked. "Is Satoshi that much of a faux pas?"

She just sort of stared into space, deep in memories.

"Yes... yes, I suppose he is, isn't he."

At that moment, I shivered. It wasn't cold, but at that moment, Angel Mort felt... weird. Not weird in the sense that it felt strange, but weird in the fantastic sense.

"Anyway," said Koizumi, after I don't know how long, "I'm not hungry."

"I'm not, either." I said.

Mion bowed and left.

"You know..." said Koizumi, "let's not talk about Satoshi anymore. I don't think that he's related to the curse, and Furude-san said that it would be a bad idea to be distracted by that sort of thing."

"Well, what if he is?"

"If that's the case, then we should look into it. But for now, we have bigger problems."

Come to think of it, I wonder how deeply Oyashiro-sama's curse and Hinamizawa's past are intertwined. It'd certainly make it harder to solve the curse...

"Between you and me," said Koizumi, "right now, the curse isn't a problem. We're stuck, in the past, with no foreseeable way out. To be honest, a depowered Suzumiya-san is hard to comprehend."

I noticed that Koizumi looked tired. I never thought he could have bags under his eyes. Did he even sleep last night?

"Sheesh, she loses her powers, and it's suddenly the end of the world, huh?" I said. "You know, I'd think that would make the world safer, wouldn't you?"

"Well, I would be less concerned if we had some of our contacts on hand. But, as you said, they don't exist yet, or they can't or wouldn't contact us. All we have on hand is a depowered SOS Brigade, which I personally feel is inadequate."

If it wasn't rude as hell, I would have splashed my coffee in his face and called him pathetic. At least here, everyone has their own personalities. If he could only imagine the worlds I've been to, maybe he'd stop complaining.

"So that's your news, then?" I said. "Every one of us is normal?"

"Indeed. You know, in my opinion, you're taking a rather cavalier approach to the situation. You do realize that we could be trapped here forever, right?"

"Maybe you should at least try looking for a way out before putting on the sandwichboard. Do I need to smack you?"

"That won't be necessary. I need to meet with Asahina-san, anyway. I'll talk with you later."

He got up, placed the necessary cash on the table, and walked out. I followed suit a few minutes later.

Unfortunately, the ride back would be much more interesting than I'd prefer.

* * *

I left Angel Mort, got on my bicycle, and started the long ride home. After I made it out of the city and onto one of the roads to Hinamizawa, I realized that this probably wasn't the road that I came in on.

As the path changed from pavement to dirt, I realized that I was well and truly lost.

It was about four when I left Angel Mort, so I still have a good amount of time before the sun sets and I get eaten by a grue or something.

After who knows how long of riding around aimlessly, I eventually ran into someone else on the road.

"Good afternoon!"

I hit the brakes on the bike.

The man I had ran into was tall and athletic-looking. He had glasses and a camera, and he was wearing a lot of greens and browns. I'm going out on a limb and guessing that he's a photographer.

"Ah, hello. Maebara-san, isn't it?"

"What? No."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't recognize you, and I've heard that the Maebara family just moved here, so I jumped to conclusions. I'm Tomitake. Nice to meet you."

"Just call me Kyon. Nice to meet you, too. So, how do you get to Hinamizawa from here?"

"Oh, you just need to make a left up the road, at the junkyard. So, I take it that you aren't from Hinamizawa?"

"Nope. I'm just in town for the festival, and then I'll probably be leaving some time after that."

"Well, so am I. I'm a photographer. I come into town every so often to take pictures. So, when did you get here?"

"Two days ago."

"Alright. Do you know when you'll be leaving?"

"No idea. I'm not the leader of my group."

"Oh? Then who is?"

"Suzumiya Haruhi. She's currently staying with Mion, if you know who that is."

"Mion... Sonozaki Mion?"

"That's the one."

Tomitake's eyes went wide.

"She... is she living in the Sonozaki estate?"

"She said that she was living in a mansion, so I think she might be."

"That's... that's incredibly dangerous for her. Hinamizawa is incredibly... touchy, towards outsiders. The Sonozaki family is the worst of all. They're incredibly xenophobic. But... I suppose if she excersises a lot of caution, she could end up okay."

Haruhi probably thinks that "caution" is a French loanword or a sort of pastry.

"You know," I said, "I met Sonozaki Mion. She seemed nice enough. So did all of the other kids."

"Well, it could be that the youth of Hinamizawa are a lot more forgiving than the elders. Although, judging by some of the things that happened in the past, they could just be acting."

Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

"Well, I'll let her know, then." I said.

"You know, I don't know if it's in your best interests to be in Hinamizawa at this time of year. I mean, yes, there's the festival, but there's…"

"Oyashiro-sama's curse?"

"Oh, you've heard of it?"

"Only the name. I have no idea what it really is."

"Well… every year, for the past four years, this year being the fifth, on the day of the festival, one person dies, and one person goes missing. Have you heard of the Hinamizawa Dam Project?"

"I haven't."

"A few years ago, the government planned to build a dam upriver of here. It would have completely flooded the town."

Seeing as I'm standing in Hinamizawa and I don't have to wear any SCUBA gear, I'm going to assume that the plan didn't go through.

"The town fought back against it with all the force it could muster. Things… escalated."

People were killed, I take it.

"Only one person, at the time, at least. Right before Hinamizawa won and the government put the plan on indefinite hiatus, the director of the construction was found dead. Butchered, in fact. They still haven't found his right arm." People ascribed it to their prayers towards Oyashiro-sama."

"And that was the first year? Who went missing?"

"Whoever ran away with his right arm."

"Well, tell me more."

"The year afterward, a couple who strongly supported the dam was killed when a guardrail broke and they fell while on vacation. Only one of their bodies was found.

"The next year, one of the priests at the Furude shrine who was on the fence about the dam died suddenly of a mysterious illness. His wife apparently drowned herself in Onigafuchi swamp soon afterwards. Her body wasn't found either.

"Last year, the wife of the younger brother of the couple was found beaten to death by some drug-addled psycho. His nephew vanished a few days after that."

"Lot of couples dying, by the looks of it."

"Yes, parents, as well. You can't help but feel bad for the children."

"So, it looks like if I don't have anything to do with the curse, I'd be fine. Right?"

"Well, if you asked me, I'd agree with that. Now, I must be going. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Likewise. Thanks for the info."

"Take care."

He started walking off, but stopped after a few paces.

"You said you'd be leaving in a few days, correct?"

"Yes, right after the festival."

"Tell you what. I'd recommend that you'd stop by the clinic as soon as you can. Hinamizawa has a few nasty diseases that you probably should be immunized for."

"Oh? Like, some strain of malaria or something?"

Dying of coughing my lungs out would not only suck, but it'd be boring. Painful, but not good story material.

"No, it's... it's something unconventional. Here."

He pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket, wrote something on it, folded it in half, and gave it to me.

"Don't lose this. There's a blonde nurse at the clinic in town. She'll know what this is."

I pocketed the note. "Thanks. Take care."

"You, too. And be careful."

I rode off.

Part of me wanted to see what the note said. But I suppose that I am an honorable enough gentleman to give Tomitake the benefit of the doubt. Plus, it's getting dark. I need both hands on the bars.

Mion... she seemed like the nicest girl yesterday. But that was just her. Come to think of it, I remember her saying "_I_ have no problem with you". Yeah, definitely some italics there.

Considering how much Haruhi embodies things that a tradition-obsessed village head would hate, her living in the same house as said tradition-obsessed village head can't end well.

But that doesn't explain what happened when Haruhi mentioned Satoshi. Mion had stopped for a split second. The heck was up with that?

And what about Rena?

At that moment, a combination of low light, me not paying enough attention, and a light left turn made it so that I didn't see the pedestrian until we nearly collided.

I made a hard right turn, dodging a collision, but I spun out and ended up on the ground.

As I proceeded to scold myself for being less attentive and letting my thoughts consume me while in motion, I saw who I almost hit.

If I wasn't already on my ass, I would have been floored.

Whoever she was (and judging by the good view if her shape I'm getting, I'm guessing it's a girl), she was garbed in a white beret, a white dress with a purple sash, and black boots.

I didn't care about that. What she was holding was a lot more interesting.

Imagine a cleaver. Now, lighten it a bit and extend the length by about fifty percent. Now, give it a sharp point at the end, perpendicular to the handle and the size of your thumb. Picturing it? Good. That's what she was holding.

As my mind raced to find any practical application for a tool like that, the girl turned to face me.

Ryuugu Rena.

She just... _looked_ at me. She didn't say anything. She didn't run over to help me up or ask if I was okay. If she wasn't staring directly at me, I wouldn't have thought she had noticed me. She just smiled.

Why does Rena have shuch a sharp instrument that looks like it's only good for murder?

After what felt like an eternity or two, she waved at me. After another eternity, she turned and walked away. I swore that I had seen a stippling of red on her dress.

Damn, and to think that I almost hit her. If I did, I probably would have gotten disemboweled, or... I can't even think of what could happen if I hit her.

After she was safely out of sight and then some, I got up, dusted myself off, repocketed the slip of paper, and got back on the bike. I rode (slowly this time) all the way back to the Maebara household.

I don't know if this influences my views of Hinamizawa one way or the other, but I know two things.

One: Riding your bike at high speeds when it's dark out on these roads is a very bad idea.

Two: There is most definetley _something_ going on in Hinamizawa.


	2. Chapter 2: Shadows

**The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya: Tsukuribanashi-hen**

**Chapter Two: Shadows**

* * *

_I once met a man_  
_who said he was from the future._

_I asked him if he knew how I would die._  
_He said he didn't know. I decided to believe him._

_I asked him if he knew what would happen tomorrow._  
_He said he didn't know. I tried to believe him._

_I asked him if he was a liar._  
_He said he didn't know. I wanted to believe him._

_-Fredrica Bernkastel_

* * *

Another evening, another session on the phone.

I half-expected some raspy voice saying "Seven days..." when I picked up the phone, but the call that I made wasn't particularly freaky.

The call that I made was to Asahina-san. Or rather, Rena's house, where Asahina-san was staying. I wanted to see how Asahina-san was holding up.

Fortunately, there's no chance of me being answered by Rena, seeing as I almost ran into her less than fifteen minutes ago, and I'm riding on a bike.

"Hello?"

Of course, she could also be able to teleport or some other unfairness like that. And she beat Keiichi back here. But you can take my word when I say that I didn't scream or drop the phone.

"Oh, I'm sorry for scaring you, Kyon-kun."

"What, just now, or back there?"

"Both. I'm sorry, but when I saw the look on your face, I just wanted to scare you even more. I guess you could call it repayment for what you did to Satoko-san."

Fine, yes, I deserved that. That doesn't explain the cleaver thing.

"Oh, that? It's for getting treasure out."

"I... see... so, is Asahina-san there?" I asked.

"Mikuru-chan? Oh, she's not here."

"Where is she?"

"Well, we crossed as I came in. She was really panicking. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me it was classified information. What was she talking about? I wonder, I wonder..."

I'm going to bet that Koizumi called her.

"So, sorry for wasting your time." I said.

"Oh, it's fine. I really enjoyed talking with you. Have fun at the doctor's tomorrow."

And she hung up.

I hung up as well, went to the couch, then got up and got something from the fridge before it hit me.

She knew I was going to the doctor's office.

Okay, Kyon, don't freak out. Wait, I just referred to myself as Kyon. I think I'm going mad. Anyway, she probably had ran into Tomitake or something. There's no way that she could have seen the meeting.

Fortunately for my sanity, Keiichi had returned at that moment. Turns out, that's exactly what had happened. Huzzah.

As I walked into town the next day, it occurred to me that I should probably invest in a map. But at least I'm not going to crash into anything, so that's nice.

But then, there was a sound like a footstep behind me.

I stopped and turned around. Nothing.

I kept walking, but I swore that I heard a (not-Hanyuu) female voice in the background.

And there's another footstep. Again with the nothing behind me.

Okay, if this is Rena, I don't care how nice she is, she's getting punched in the gut.

I took a few more steps before I heard more footsteps. These sounded much more like the sound of someone running up to-

"KYON!"

-tackle me. Oww... goddamnit, Haruhi, I was doing fine without having to be so close to you.

So, may I ask why you are tackling me this fine morning?

"I dunno. I saw you walking along the path and I felt compelled."

Can't you go and hang out with Mion or something?

"I'm going for a walk with Mion right now, dummy. We're heading to the store."

Mion ran up to me and pulled Haruhi off.

"So, where are you off to, Kyon?" said Mion.

"Oh, just heading down to the clinic. I'm feeling a bit under the weather. Know where it is?"

"You're on the right path. Just keep heading that way."

I got up and dusted myself off.

"So, are you having fun with your roommate?" I asked Haruhi.

"Yeah, her house is awesome! The Sonozakis are loaded! And I'm only allowed in a few rooms in one area of the house, so there has to be way more that I can't go to! There's probably secret compartments containing family artifacts, or a mass Sonozaki graveyard, or a torture chamber, or maybe there's the undead matriarch living somewhere inside the bowels of the estate! There's just not enough time to see it all."

You do realize that you're literally leaning on a Sonozaki, right? Even if you botch a roll on your Perception check, you should notice that at a minimum.

"So, what are her parents like?" I said.

"They don't live in this estate. I haven't actually seen any adults inside."

"How?"

"Oh, Mion gets me food and such, and we've spent most of the time either snooping around or out. I _think_ her grandma might live in there, but she hasn't let me meet her."

"Actually," said Mion, "I'd say it's the other way around."

"Yeah, I heard that the matriarch is a bit, well, xenophobic." I said.

"Haha, yeah, that'd be oni-baba in a nutshell." said Mion.

"Oni-baba?" said Haruhi. "Huh, with a nickname like that, maybe I don't want to meet her after all..."

"Sounds like a great idea. Well, see you, Kyon!" said Mion.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow!"

Mion and Haruhi walked off, towing each other, leaving me to myself.

You know, I was actually expecting Mion to say some sort of disturbing line or some sort of scare, but I guess there's nothing of the sort going on. As I walked to the clinic, the only sounds were of my footsteps, and the cries of the higurashi.

The clinic looked... like a clinic. It wasn't boring, it just had an impeccable air of clinic about it. I think I might have seen this building used in stock footage, and if I haven't, I'd recommend it for this purpose.

I entered the clinic, and the interior was just as clinical as the exterior. I walked up to the receptionist.

"Can I help you?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a blonde nurse. Is there one here?"

The receptionist looked me up and down.

"Don't bother. She has a boyfriend already."

"No, that's not it, I have a note for her from Tomitake-san."

"Oh. I guess I can summon Takano-san for you. She should be here shortly."

Shortly was about fifteen seconds. Tomitake wasn't off in his description in the least. "Takano-san" was very much a blonde, a platinum blonde, not like Satoko's dandelion-blonde hair. And she was very much a nurse, wearing such a fanservice-laden outfit (which, if I must say so, she wore quite well) that I questioned the reality of the clinic and if I hadn't just fallen into a set of a TV show. She had droopy (for lack of a better word) golden eyes, and when she smiled at me, it was instantly familiar. Gentlemen, I think I might have found Koizumi's ancestor.

"You have a note for me?"

I handed the note to her. As she read it, first she frowned, then she pocketed the note and smiled at me.

"You and Tomitake-san must have got along very well if he wants you to have this. Come with me, please."

She led me into the clinic and into a rather featureless room. She handed me a few medical forms.

"Fill these out, please. I'm going to have to take a sample from your lymph nodes. To determine the dosage, that is."

"Alright, sure."

She left, and I got to work filling out the forms. I decided to answer them honestly, with the exception of my parent's contact information. My parents, who would probably be around my age at this point in time, would probably go into shock if they got a call from a doctor's office in the middle of nowhere telling them that their son got injured. The nurse might be confused, but I'll feel better about it.

After a bit, Takano returned with a syringe. She pulled the fluid from my neck (without any anesthetic short of rubbing alcohol. By the way, my body screamed in pain). As she was looking over the papers, she laughed.

Oh, dear god, that laugh is the stuff of nightmares. It's not scary, really (I'd describe it as a mix between condescending and amused), but I remember hearing it in my nightmares.

"That's odd..."

She pulled out a pencil, erased part of the information that I put down and wrote something else in. She was out the door before I could comment on what was probably fraud.

After a few minutes, she came back in, accompanied with a doctor. He had straight brown hair, glasses, and he looked a lot younger than she did. You know, I may be reaching, but I think that these two are Koizumi's parents at a much younger age.

The doctor started barraging me with questions about my relationship with Hinamizawa (just got here yesterday, never been here before in my life, never known anyone from Hinamizawa, no parents or friends from Hinamizawa, et cetera), my medical history, and all the while he was inspecting pretty much every inch of me. He might have snuck in a darker question, but I wasn't paying attention, I was just answering stuff.

"Fascinating... absolutely fascinating..."

"Can I still get what Tomitake wanted me to have?"

Takano and the doctor gave each other glances.

"Sure." said Takano. "We'll be right back."

They left, but they didn't go far, judging by the footsteps. I put my ear to the wall. Here's what I picked up from the conversation, starting with what Takano said and alternating with the doctor's lines.

"...right, he has... ...level..."

"...not from here... sudden..."

"...let it run... see what ha..."

"...not ethical... mur... suspicious..."

"...never suspect... saline..."

And then the conversation got too quiet to hear. Eventually, they came back. Takano had a syringe with a clear liquid in it.

"Here you go. Just what the doctor ordered."

Well, if that's the case, then why does the doctor have that expression? I recognize it. I've made it way too often when I'm dealing with Haruhi's dumb plots.

Before I could make any sort of comment, she was already swabbing my neck and sticking the needle into the exact same spot where she drew the fluid.

"There you go. Have a nice day." said Takano.

"Don't I need to pay for this?" I said.

She chuckled again.

"It's on the house. A present from Tomitake-san to you."

"Uhh... thanks."

I exited the room. However, I didn't exit the hallway. I hung back to try and pick up more of their conversation.

"...truly a marvel." said the doctor.

"Indeed. If it goes up at the rate it has..." Takano chuckled.

"That'd be... oh. That's..."

And Takano chuckled again.

"Oyashiro-sama is going to be very pleased. Very pleased indeed..."

I had heard enough. That was when I started heading out the door and back to Keiichi's place. Ugh, if I ever see Takano again, it'll be too soon.

* * *

The next couple of days were relatively idyllic. Hinamizawa was going all out in trying to seem as friendly and non-fatal as possible.

However, as much as it would have been appreciated, what we did wasn't nearly as idyllic.

In fact, Haruhi had indeed brought the SOS Brigade on the road in more ways than taking us here, and she actually might be trying to overload Hinamizawa with fun. After I had gone to the doctor's, we had headed down to a junkyard to look for treasure. The seven of us working in tandem (and by that, I mean mainly Nagato and Haruhi, with the rest of us barely hanging on) managed to extract a statue of what Rena called "Kenta-kun". I haven't heard of him either. I'm going to guess that he's some alternate company equivalent to Colonel Sanders. Anyway, Rena was ecstatic, and Haruhi declared the day to be a rousing success.

The day after that, Rika had given us a full, proper tour of Hinamizawa. Hopefully, after this, I won't be getting lost anymore. The area near the Furude shrine was abuzz with activity, metamorphosizing from a solemn shrine to a festival zone. Haruhi was bristling with anticipation, and she wasn't alone. Hanging out with all of the people I've met in a festival which was guaranteed to have fun things to do sounded just peachy.

But, try as it may, you could see some shadows lurking if you looked hard enough.

Nagato was wavering. She was looking like she needed a good meal and a good night's rest. When we had sat down to look at one of the vistas of Hinamizawa, I noticed that she fidgeted a bit, wasn't perfectly still. There were a bunch of small changes that, while making her definitely seem worse off, made her seem a bit more human here and there. She was unfettered by the Integrated Thought Data Entity, and, if she was living with someone who could take care of her better than she took care of herself, she'd be a lot better off in Hinamizawa.

Asahina-san was still as beautiful as ever. She looked happy, and her smiles didn't ring hollow. But I'm thinking that she had already blazed through the five stages of grief like a Bluebird CN7, and had accepted that she was stuck here.

Koizumi had also seemed to be losing his touch. Despite the possibility of Haruhi ending the world getting removed from his plate, he wasn't relieved. My excellent people-reading skills tell me that the guy was sick with melancholy. Of course he hid it. He's Koizumi, he hides every emotion he has.

Not that he was 100% successful, though.

"Guys, what's wrong?" said Haruhi.

Our tour had come to a temporary stop over on what was by far the best vista in Hinamizawa. We were having a picnic. Rika had to goad Nagato into eating, and Koizumi wasn't hungry.

"I mean, it's the day before the festival! Why are you all so mopey?"

I for one am perfectly not sad in the least, thank you very much. I'm actually looking forward to the festival.

Asahina-san and Koizumi traded glances among themselves, Nagato, and me.

"Well... I admit, I'm a bit homesick." said Koizumi. "I think Asahina-san is, too. She misses her sister."

We could hook you up to a polygraph and use the needle for that to power an outboard motor, couldn't we?

Asahina-san nodded until she was mentioned as having a sister. Then she just looked confused.

"You have a sister, Mikuru?" said Haruhi, with equal parts disbelief and skepticism.

"Mhm. Asahina... Michiru, if I recall correctly." said Koizumi.

Were you even there? (Asahina Michiru wasn't real, by the way. Blame, as usual, time travel.)

"Sir, why are you putting your head in your hand like that?" said Rika, to me.

So I can't see how stupid the world is, that's why.

"Guys, if you're really that homesick, I'll just arrange for us to get home as quickly as we can. Say, the day after tomorrow sometime?" said Haruhi.

"And everything would be back to normal?" said Koizumi.

"Uhhh... yes? Why wouldn't it be? Hinamizawa hasn't infected us with anything, so we'll be fine."

I noticed Rika tense up slightly out of the corner of my eye.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." said Koizumi. He smiled, and it looked legitimate.

"Not to poke holes in the plan, but how would we get back?" I asked.

"Oh, you know, head back to Okinomiya, get a bus, the same way we got here."

"I'd like to see the bus tickets, alright?"

"Sure, once I get them."

"Um, sir..." said Rika.

"Yes?" said Haruhi.

"Staying here for another day would be a really bad idea, sir."

"But the festival is tomorrow."

"I know."

"So, you don't want us to be at the festival. Is that right?" I said.

Rika nodded.

"Why not? Of course we're going to go to the festival. Not going to the festival would be missing the point of going to Hinamizawa at all!" said Haruhi.

"But, sir... if you went to the festival, you could die."

"Oh? I heard from Tomitake that the curse only hunts people that had something to do with the dam." I said.

"Yeah, I think I read something like that." said Haruhi.

"That's not what I meant..." said Rika. "It's been said that 'you should fear the hammer of your neighbor more than the hammer of God'."

"Interesting quote." said Haruhi. "Although, here, at least, wouldn't it be the hammer of Oyashiro-sama?"

"Don't say that." said Rika.

"What? Hammer of Oyashiro-sama?"

"Yes."

"Alright, suit yourself."

"Anyway, what I mean, sir, is that you need to worry more about the people who live in Hinamizawa than about the curse."

"That's interesting." said Koizumi.

He stood up and stretched.

"We'll keep that in mind. Well, I suppose we shall see you tomorrow, then."

"Maybe, but I'd be dissapointed if I do." said Rika.

And so ends that day. Tomorrow is the festival. If all goes well (which it won't, trust me), we'll either have a great time or miss it entirely.

* * *

Of course we went to the festival. Haruhi was as steadfast in her desire to go as rings were to sticking around Polykrates.

Haruhi had wanted us to put on the kimonos that we had packed (yes, of course she made us bring kimonos). However, Rika had called and said that she was the only one that needed to dress up, so I ignored her.

However, that's not to say that clothing wasn't a sticking point, especially when Keiichi was getting dressed.

"No." I said.

"No what?" said Keiichi.

"You are not wearing that."

"That", in this case, was a reddish vest that was of some tailoring that I could not recognize. It was not the sort of thing that I'd wear in public, much less to a festival.

"Why not?"

"It looks stupid."

"C'mon, I've worn it before and nobody's mocked me yet."

"Well, maybe they're being nice."

"Well..."

It took him a few seconds to come back with a witty enough retort.

"Well, you don't know anything about contemporary fashion, time-traveler. Your opinion is invalid."

"I've done research and my parents grew up in this time. I know enough to know that that doesn't work. Besides, I'd only be confused if I went forward in time, which I haven't. Now, just wear a damn T-shirt or something. Those can't go out of style."

"My white one is dirty."

I got one of the T-shirts I had packed out of one of my bags and threw it at him. Grudgingly, he switched to it. It was (to the discomfort of us both) a perfect fit.

"So, how will we be meeting up with everyone?" I asked.

Keiichi shrugged. "I think we'll be meeting them when we get there."

We said goodbye to Keiichi's parents and headed out.

"So, what is this festival?"

"I don't really know. It's the cotton-drifting festival. There's a river that runs near the shrine complex, so I guess it'd have something to do with that. But, to be honest, I have no idea."

"Actually, it's where we take our old futons and such and tear them up." said Rena.

Rena, who was very much _not_ behind us a second ago.

Rest assured, I didn't scream, I didn't jump, I didn't land on my ass, Keiichi didn't laugh at me, and I didn't make a fool out of myself in front of Asahina-san. That didn't happen. Alright? You have my word that it didn't.

"Sorry for scaring you again, Kyon-kun." said Rena.

"Yeah, that's a theme that's showing up, and I _really_ don't like it."

I mean, for Pete's sake, announce your presence or something.

"I'm sorry. I thought you heard me coming."

"Well, I didn't, obviously."

Asahina-san held out a hand to me, and she pulled me up. She looked exactly as adorable as she always did, elegant and beautiful in her skirt and blouse. Rena and Keiichi had started going ahead, leaving me and her to talk.

"So, how are you holding up?" I asked her.

"Oh, about as well as you'd expect..."

"That badly, huh?"

"Well, emotionally, I've become stable. But after I talked with Koizumi-san, I realized that all of the classified information went away. I'm not forced to say "classified information", for one."

"Then why'd you just say it?"

"Because it's still classified information. But, the TPDD and a lot of other things are gone. I guess I should be thankful that they disappeared instead of being removed, because that could probably have... no, that's still classified information."

"So, it's like a void in your head."

"Well, no, because that would be fatal, probably. But it's sort of like that."

"Well, I assume that this means that your superiors can't tell what you do."

"They don't exist. Well, they didn't exist before, yet, but we've gone past the time-quake, so they can't reach us, and the monitors are gone, as well."

I don't know what Asahina-san thinks of it all, but I'd say that this is a very good thing.

"Well, in that case, that means that you can do what you please because they can't do anything about it, right?" I said.

I could tell when she realized the meaning behind what she said by when her cheeks suddenly matched the color of her hair.

"Ah! A-a-a-are you saying that we could, well, ah..."

Hauu... so damn adowable...

"Well, uh, technically, I'm not due for my first kiss until after I leave your-"

"So? They can't tell. Nothing wrong with making it so that something goes in a different direction than it would have."

"Th-that's not true! It's a really big violation of the-"

"Stuff that doesn't apply anymore?"

Asahina-san looked like she was about to speak, but she went quiet. We stopped.

"I... I actually have always wanted to have it be this way..."

She closed her eyes and leaned forward, lips puckered. Alright, screw the creepiness and us being hopelessly stuck in the past, Hinamizawa is _awesome_!

I did the same thing that she did, and-

_Pop!_

Scant centimeters from my first real kiss, I was knocked off-kilter and onto the ground by a large burst of pain on the side of my head.

Talk about a mood killer.

I think I heard Haruhi say "Nice shot!" but my head was still swimming from whatever hit me. As I regained coherence, I saw Mion and Haruhi. Mion had... a... gun? Was I shot? If I was, then I should be dead, or at least unconscious.

"Oh, this? It's an airsoft gun."

I see. How you haven't been arrested for having that is a mystery to us all.

"What the hell was that?" Haruhi was fuming. Literally; you could see the heat off of her head. "Were you two about to kiss?"

Despite how this looks, this is a good thing. If Haruhi's this angry, then she isn't truly mad.

Asahina-san, however, going by her reaction, didn't know this. She mewed, sputtered, turned a nice shade of red, and fainted on the spot.

"Kyon, you are in so much trouble! Romance between Brigade members is absolutely forbidden!"

Why? I don't see any good reason for there to be.

"So it doesn't go all pumpkin-shaped, that's why!"

Pumpkins, while a fruit, are not pears. Get your fruit-based idioms right, Haruhi.

"It's an anime reference. You really should broaden your reference pools."

Oh, irony, thy name is Haruhi.

I started to walk past her, but I was grabbed before I could brush her off.

"Oh no you don't! You are absolutely forbidden from going to the festival. That is FINAL!"

"Why?"

"That's your penalty."

I'd hate to see what you'd do to me if I managed to actually kiss her.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" I asked.

"_Not_ go to the festival! Duh! C'mon, Mion, let's go have some fun."

She helped the recovering Asahina-san to her feet, and the three of them walked off.

So, I've been forbidden from going to the event that we specifically went to Hinamizawa to go see. So, now what?

Regardless, I waited a bit, then I continued down the same path.

The shrine complex was huge, packed to the brim with stalls and people. You know, it probably wouldn't be too hard to merely slip inside and hang out without Haruhi noticing. But what would I do, hang out by myself? Haruhi's like an amoeba, oozing about and absorbing anyone who'd I'd know or want to hang out with into her own group. It doesn't sound that fun.

Regardless, I went into the festival complex, bought some fried octopus balls, barely managed to dodge Haruhi's roving eye, and escaped. I went left from the original vantage point and started walking and thinking.

And there it was.

A single footstep. It wasn't my own; couldn't have been, it was out of sync. But that was definetely the sound of a (bare?) foot on old stone path.

I turned to face it. There was nothing but the wind and the leaves.

Alright, there better be a good explanation for this. Maybe... maybe I'm being trailed by some sort of spirit?

_You..._

Ah, so that's the case.

_You're still here..._

I thought I asked Rika to make you stop stalking me.

_I'm not._

Then what are you doing?

_I'm checking on somebody else._

Oh? And who is that?

That question went unanswered. But I felt that I was walking alongside her as we chatted.

_Why aren't you at the festival?_

Off in the distance, I could hear a ceremonial drum boom.

"Well, Haruhi said that I wasn't allowed to attend."

_Rika thinks you left._

Really?

_Yes... she's happy about that._

I thought she had a fondness for me. Guess all that was an act, like her normal act is.

_No, no, no. That's why she's happy. She thought you managed to escape._

Escape... what? The curse?

_Something like that..._

I felt like I was walking alongside someone to a certain spot. I don't know what Hanyuu does, so I don't know if it was actual walking.

So, I have a question for you.

_Okay._

What are you?

That question wasn't answered. She was silent until we happened on something a bit more important.

It was a building, not like a shed, but not as large as the school. It was built like the older buildings in town. Judging by our (assumed) proximity to the shrine complex, I'd assume that it's religous. It wouldn't have caught my interest - and indeed, it didn't, until we came around to the front of the building. There, the unusual factor was the lock on the door - and Tomitake trying to pick it. Takano was alternating between keeping watch and watching him pick it.

So, this is what you were heading to, I take it.

_Yes..._

I decided to do something to scare the two. I picked up a rock and threw it.

Either I have horrible luck, really good luck, an abysmal arm, or a spirit guiding my throws, because the stone didn't act at all like I wanted it to.

What I _wanted_ it to do was go far, into the bushes on the other side of them from me. What it _did_ was hit the lock directly. It sparked. Tomitake and Takano both jumped, and looked in my direction. It looked from here that Tomitake may have been pulling out a gun.

After a few tense seconds, the started laughing.

"Well, well, well." said Takano, "Kyon-kun, it's good to see you again."

My cover being blown, I got out of the bushes and headed up towards them.

Tomitake looked embarassed, hand behind head and everything. Takano was still smiling at me in that creepy smug way that she always does. She picked up the rock.

"Is this yours?"

"Yeah, I was just trying to scare you. I missed what I was aiming at."

They laughed.

"Well, that was a heck of a miss, then." said Tomitake.

"So, what is this?"

They traded glances.

"This shed... contains the secrets of Hinamizawa's past." said Takano.

Really now. Let me guess. It contains dead bodies or torture equipment or something like that.

Again, they traded glances. Then they stepped away and whispered to each other for a while. That ended with another of Takano's creepy, stuff-of-nightmares laughs.

Tomitake went back to picking the lock, and in no time at all, it unlocked.

"Well, we shall see, then." said Takano.

As Tomitake opened the door, I got the feeling that darkness was flooding out instead of the light flooding in, and that there was a good reason for that lock to be there.

_Run... while you still can._

As light flooded in, the walls were revealed to contain, yes, torture equipment. No dead bodies, though. I think.

The walls of the shrine were lined with various very sharp implements. A more idealistic person would have called them carpentry equipment or farmer's tools, but idealism ain't my thing.

And in the center of it all, a large, dominating, slightly cracked statue.

"The Saiguiden..." said Tomitake. "Amazing."

Takano was looking at it with more intensity than she had been looking at Tomitake.

"Well, this is quite interesting," I said, "but I gotta run. Haruhi's waiting for me up at the festival complex."

I saw Takano nod. She chuckled again.

As I started leaving, I felt someone or something grab onto the back of my shirt. I was pulled back into the Saiguiden like I was being claimed for hell. I was sent sprawling into the statue of Oyashiro-sama, thankfully not cracking it. The doors slammed shut, and I was surrounded in complete and total darkness.

Alright, get the grue jokes out of your system. At the moment, I was more worried about having my throat slit.

After way, way too long, a match was lit. Now, all that could be seen were Takano's eyes. I'll have the darkness back, thank you.

One got the sense that the Saiguiden was both cramped and enormous beyond comprehension. The was enough space for me, Takano, and Tomitake, and that was it. Leaving sounded like the best thing in the world, but I honestly saw no door.

"Isn't it wonderful?"

Takano had an expression that was... creepy. A mix of awe, love, and maladiction.

My retinas were roasted by a bright flash of lught. Tomitake was taking pictures.

"Uh, yeah, very... interesting."

Takano lit a lamp. The flickering lights made the Saiguiden into the perfect place to tell ghost stories.

"It is, isn't it. Do you know who this is?"

She gestured to the statue.

"That's... Oyashiro-sama, correct?" I said.

I have no idea.

"Very good. Now, it seems like it would be a good time for you to learn more about him."

"Honestly, I don't care. If you knew anything about the curse, that would be more interesting."

"The curse? Fufufufufu... well, it started about five-"

"I already know about what it is. Tomitake told me. And if you're trying to make me think that I could be next, Tomitake said that only people who were connected with the dam thing are targets."

"Oh? Is this true, Jirou-san?"

"Well, uh..." said Tomitake.

"See, Kyon-kun... do you believe in Santa Claus?"

Oh, don't even get me started.

"Well, do you think he exists?"

"No, he's just a man in a suit. Either that, or your parents or some metaphysical concept."

"Yes, very good. What about God?"

No comment.

"Well, think of it this way. Let's say that you have a Shinto priest, a rabbi, and a Hindi pandit. Who is right?"

Is the answer D: None of the above?

"You see... they all think that they worship the real god. But if they all think that, then nobody is right."

She leaned up against me. Ugh, don't you have a boyfriend over there?

"Gods don't exist, Kyon-kun. Neither do spirits. Or curses. A curse only exists if people want it to exist. Or if they want people to think it exists."

I heard the drumming stop. Alright, festival's over, can I go now?

"Of course, you seem like the sort of person who wouldn't believe in any of the supernatural."

Alright, enough. I can see the door. I'm leaving.

And I tried, but Tomitake was in the way. When I stopped, Takano laughed again. Look, I'm aware of having respect for your elders, but I really would like to smack you.

"Miyo-san," said Tomitake, looking a bit nervous, "just let the kid go. We shouldn't force him into this."

Into what?

"Jirou-san," said Takano, going up to him and wearing a slightly different smile, "why should I? If he leaves, he could tell someone that we were in here."

Oh, as opposed to me _not_ telling anyone if I'm kept in a creepy and probably forbidden building against my will. Yes, truly, Takano, your logic is infallible.

Takano chuckled again and nodded. Tomitake stepped aside.

There being absolutely no reason for me to stick around, I bolted from the Saiguiden and I didn't look back.

Alright, I feel awful now. I'm getting the sense that even being _near_ the Saiguiden is going to bite me on the ass.

I think I'm going to go head down to the river. That's the second part of the festival, if I recall correctly. And Haruhi didn't forbid me from that, did she now?

Only problem is, I'm lost. I think I followed Hanyuu here, and it's darker now, so... crap.

Hm, I wonder what the festival was like...

"It was certainly an interesting performance. I certainly haven't seen anything of the sort before."

I turned around. There was Koizumim leaning against a tree a few meters behind me.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, aggravated by his creepiness that I really should expect from him at this point.

"From the festival, of course."

Oh, that's very helpful.

"And besides, I've always wanted to make a stealthy entrance. Anyway, where have you been? I didn't see you at the festival."

"I was forbidden."

"Right, yes, Suzumiya-san did mention that. Why?"

"I almost kissed Asahina-san."

He didn't have any drink to do a spit-take with (a crying shame), but he _did_ end up walking face-first into a tree, colliding with a resonating thunk. Coincidentally, the amount of time that it took for him to peel his face away from the bark was the same amount of time that it took for me to stop laughing.

"Well," said Koizumi, still shell-shocked, "you certainly seized the day, didn't you."

That I did.

"So, what were you up to?" he asked.

"Oh, I ran into Tomitake and Takano. The forced me into this building called the Saiguiden."

"Oh? Saiguiden, Saiguiden... I vaguely remember that being mentioned. Can't remember the context, though."

"Well, I'm heading home. Don't tell Furude-san that I've been in there. In fact, don't tell her that I'm still around at all."

"Oh? Why?"

"A little birdy told me that she's happier that I am 'gone'."

"Well, in that case, see you later."

And as the sun finishes setting on this festival, and as I head back, so sets the sun on the last of the bright days.

It turns out that Rika was right, as much as I'd hate to admit it. The happy days ran out. I can earnestly say that every day after today sucked.

Tomorrow was when the cord would be pulled, the trap door would open, and I would tumble into the void.

* * *

As usual, I had nightmares. These were of running down dark forest trails, being chased by men with guns. Surprisingly mundane, considering what I've been through.

Today was going to be a day where I did absolutely nothing. I loafed, watching baseball games that I vaguely remembered the results of (oh, if only I brought an almanac...) and "contemporary" shows that I've seen many times. I figured that I'd do that until Haruhi called me, telling me to pack my bags and go.

She didn't.

At about three in the afternoon, Keiichi's mom came in.

"Kyon, you have someone who wants to talk to you."

"You sure that it isn't for Keiichi?"

"He referred to you by name."

Oh. Well, I guess Koizumi's come calling then.

I turned off the TV, managed to eventually get off the couch, and ambled to the door. I opened it.

Okay, that's very much not Koizumi.

The man that was standing in front of me was old, large, and smiling. He was wearing a black shirt with red suspenders. I don't know if I can trust him, but if he's come calling for me, I'm guessing not.

"Good afternoon!" said the man. He had an accent. Not sure from _where_, but it was an accent.

"Uh, hi."

"Nice day, isn't it?"

"Uh, I guess so. What do you want?"

"Name's Ooishi. I have a few questions for you. Assuming that you're Kyon, of course."

"Yes, I'm Kyon, and why should I answer your questions?"

"Well, there's-"

Ooishi looked down, and chuckled. That was the second creepiest laugh I've heard. Something like "nh-fu-fu-fu-fu".

"Oh, I forgot to put this on. My mistake."

He pulled out a policeman's badge and attached it to his lapel.

"Oh." I said. So now I have a cop inquiring after me?

"Anyway, would you mind coming out to my car to talk, would you?"

Police officer or not, that sounds damn creepy.

"Well, I need to talk to you regardless, so we could either talk with me in the car, or we can talk out here."

It's blistering hot, there's no breeze, and there's not a cloud in the sky. Can't we talk inside?

"I need to talk to you alone, so it's one of the other."

"...you have air conditioning, right?"

He laughed again.

"I do. Go on in. It's unlocked."

I entered the back seat of the car. He entered the driver's seat and lit a cigarette.

"So, I understand that you aren't from here, correct?"

"Yeah, I'm from-" and again, I'm censoring my town name.

"Interesting. You wouldn't mind giving me your parent's phone number, would you? Just in case."

"Well, I can't. My parents and I... well, to them, I don't exist."

"Ah, estranged, huh."

"Oh, you have no idea."

"So, you don't have any family or friends that live in Hinamizawa, right?"

"Not really."

"Interesting... and yet you're right in the thick of it. So to speak."

"Uh, you mean that I'm connected to powerful people in Hinamizawa, correct? As in the other teens."

"Yeah, something along those lines."

"You're asking the wrong guy. I live way out here, and they don't particularly care for me. Go ask Koizumi, he lives with Furude-san and Hojo-san."

"Well, I'm asking you. Do you know this man?"

He passed back a picture.

"That's Tomitake Jirou. He's a photographer. We ran into each other before."

"Ah. Well, as of last night, he's dead."

I felt my breath vanish, my heart race, and my eyes widen.

"D... dead?"

"That's correct. We found his body not far from Hinamizawa. It was pretty gruesome."

"How'd he die?"

"He tore his throat out with his bare hands."

Oh god.

"So... it was some sort of suicide?" I asked.

"Well, yes and no. He did kill himself, but it's something like if you were forced to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger. There's evidence that he was injected with a drug that made him do that."

"A drug... that makes you tear out your throat."

"Well, the doctor recognized the cause of death as being from that drug."

"..."

I'm not really surprised. If you have spirits and strange children roaming around, freak super-drugs can exist, too.

I handed the picture back.

"The villagers are saying that he was taken by Oyashiro-sama's curse." said Ooishi.

I thought back to what Takano had said: _A curse only exists if people want it to exist. Or if they want people to think it exists._

I handed the photograph back.

"Alright. So, do you recognize this person?" said Ooishi. He passed back another photo.

"Takano Miyo. She's a nurse at the clinic."

"Right. She is also dead."

"No way!"

Actually, while the fact that she died along with Tomitake is unnerving, her actually being dead isn't a bad thing.

"Unfortunately, that is the case."

"So, were the deaths connected? I saw them in the same area at the festival."

"No. She was found incinerated inside a barrel in the mountains a good distance from Hinamizawa. Although we're not a hundred percent sure it's her. Nh-fu-fu..."

"And, let me guess. The other villagers are saying that it's Oyashiro-sama's curse."

"That they are. From what I've heard, both of them vandalized the Saiguiden."

"Vandalized the Saiguiden? Like... broke in?"

"I wasn't there, so I can't say what happened. But they did break in, so you're right, there."

"So, why did you want me?"

"I'm not one for curses, and even if I was, this doesn't match up with Oyashiro-sama's curse, seeing as they're both dead. I think that this might have to do with the Sonozaki family. But, I'm not really liked in town, so I can't really do anything. That's where you come in."

"You want me to be a mole."

"Well, no... just report any overtly suspicious things that you see to me, alright?"

"But, I'm just... around. Can't you ask Rena or someone else?"

"Nh-fu-fu, funny you mention that. Ryuugu Rena, right?"

I nodded.

"From what I've heard, she's had her own... interesting... experiences with Oyashiro-sama. So I've heard, at least."

He looked at his watch.

"Oh, is that the time? I suppose now, I have to go."

"Go where?"

"Well, I've heard talk that the 'SOS Brigade' is meeting with the Sonozaki family, and they aren't happy with them. Of course, I doubt you've heard of the SOS Brigade."

"I-I have! I'm one of the members!"

"Oh? Nahahahaha! Well, I suppose that you should come with me, then. You need a ride to your trial, after all."

"Trial?"

* * *

So, this is what was going on.

The SOS Brigade is being called before the three main families of Hinamizawa, and the Sonozaki family in particular. They shall dispense "judgement" on us there. I'm going to take it that Haruhi's pissed off someone that she shouldn't have pissed off.

The assembly hall was murmuring with anticipation as we drove up to it.

Ooishi dropped me off just as we came in sight of the assembly hall.

"You should walk in alone," he said. "There's other things I need to do, and besides, I'm not the most popular guy here. See you some other time."

He waved and drove away.

When I actually entered the assembly hall, I got the unpleasant, bizarre, and not completely unfounded feeling that everyone was staring at me.

People and associations had roughly divided the hall into two sections. On one side were people wearing traditional clothing, including a middle-aged woman who, judging by the hair, I presume is Mion's mother, men in suits, and, off to the side, Mion herself.

One the other were people dressed in more normal clothes. On this side were Rena, Satoko, Nagato, Asahina-san, and Haruhi.

You can probably infer on what side of the hall I sat one. Specifically, between Haruhi and Asahina-san.

Haruhi was bristling with anticipation. She looked strangely excited, despite us being put before a court which may or may not be marsupial.

"So, what did you this time?" I asked.

She turned to me. She was smirking.

"Hey, don't ask me. In fact, I'll ask you the same thing."

"Hey, I'm not the one staying in the same house as the village head."

"Well, I'm not the one that wasn't accounted on the festival night."

"That was _your_ fault."

"Oh, no it wasn't!"

"Look, just... do one thing for me."

"What?"

"Don't say anything stupid. In fact, just, don't say anything. Unless asked to. And even then, don't say anything stupid."

She sighed and turned away.

"Fine."

Asahina-san was wide-eyed and she was trembling. I don't know if I've seen her this terrified. When I sat down, she latched onto my arm, and it took her a while to let go.

Eventually, the assembly hall filled to capacity before the meeting started. Koizumi and Keiichi arrived shortly after I did, as well as pretty much every adult I've met.

In fact, the only people that are _not_ here that I've met are the ones that are dead, Ooishi, and Rika.

And then, with all the sudden force of a candle being snuffed, the room became silent. Three individuals entered the hall and took seats on mats on the other side of the room from us.

The one in the center was a very, very, _very_ old woman. She looked like the textbook definition of a crone.

And then I saw her hollow, pinhole eyes. Yeah, I'm definitely not going to call her a crone to her face. She looked like she could get me lynched with a thought, and was definitely considering it.

The one on the right was an old man, tall, lanky and bald. I got the sense that he would be the straight man, and the leader, if the crone wasn't sucking in all the power in the room.

The one on the left was... Rika? She looked right at me, and she looked melancholic. Despair hung in the air around her.

_I'm sorry... I really am._

I felt like bowing, so I did. Koizumi bowed as well. The girls, lacking a grasp on hospitality, didn't bow.

I noticed Haruhi lean back and ask someone behind her a question; "Who are these people?"

The old woman laughed. That sound was horrifying. I saw the old man lean over and whisper something to her.

"Kimiyoshi-san says that you should be forgiven for that remark, seeing as you are new here. I am Sonozaki Oryou, head of the Sonozaki family."

I heard Haruhi mutter "Called it.".

"These are Kimiyoshi-san and Furude-san, heads of their respective families. The three of us could be said to be the heads of Hinamizawa."

Rika, a head of Hinamizawa? That's... actually a stroke of luck. However, I'm guessing that Rika doesn't have much in the way of power, both because she's a little girl and it's pretty obvious who has the power in the room.

"Now, who are you?" said Sonozaki-sama. I'm going to call her that both to differentiate from the other Sonozaki members and because any bit of ass-kissing helps.

"Well, I am Koizumi Itsuki, and my colleagues are Nagato Yuki, Asahina Mikuru, Suzumiya Haruhi - our leader - and Kyon." said Koizumi.

Sonozaki-sama chuckled.

"'Kyon'? Don't you have a real name, boy?"

"Actually, I think that might actually be his name," said Asahina-san.

"Yeah, sounds about right," said Haruhi. Hey, you know my name, you're in my freaking class.

"Alright... Kyon." said Sonozaki-sama.

"May I ask a question?" I said.

"Very well." said Sonozaki-sama.

"Why are we here?"

She chuckled again.

"Certain... things, have happened here, since you've arrived. This is partially for us to see how you act, but it's mainly for us to pass judgement onto you."

"Why do we need judgement?"

"You have angered Oyashiro-sama."

_Hey, that's not true._

"You mean, the SOS Brigade has?" said Haruhi.

"Fufufufufu... yes, yes they have. Now, I understand that you have been staying with some of the residents of Hinamizawa."

I looked over at Koizumi. Take the floor, so I don't risk misspeaking and then getting murdered.

"This is true. I have been personally staying with Furude-san and Hojo-san. Kyon over there has been staying with Maebara-san. Asahina-san has been staying with Ryuugu-san, and Suzumiya-san has been staying with Sonozaki-san."

The crowd started murmuring. Sonozaki-sama shushed them with a raised hand.

"You'll have to be more specific. The Sonozaki family is very widespread."

"Sonozaki Mion."

An even greater murmur started up, and was promptly shushed.

"I don't think I heard you correctly. Sonozaki Mion lives with me in my estate. Surely, an outsider like her wouldn't be living under my nose without my knowledge..."

She turned towards Mion, who was trying her damnedest to keep a stony expression, and was succeeding, with the exception of her eyes, which were showcasing her terror to the world.

"...right?"

There was a long silence before Mion answered.

"No, she has been staying here. She has just been avoiding you."

"For how long?"

"About a week, sir." said Rika.

"A week, in my own house... and I never even noticed."

Sonozaki-sama laughed. That was probably the scariest thing I've ever heard.

"Mion-san, I must congratulate you for your cunning. It takes talent to hide an unwelcome guest in my own home."

Unwelcome guest... oh, that doesn't bode well.

She turned back to Koizumi.

"But, living in the houses of your 'peers' isn't enough to save you. But, it also isn't enough to damn you by itself. That is not why Oyashiro-sama is angry.

_I'm not angry..._

"The Saiguiden was broken into."

_I'm sorry..._

There was another murmur. I saw Koizumi glance at me.

"Now, the Saiguiden is a very sacred place. The only person who can enter is Furude Rika. But three people have entered the Saiguiden who were not supposed to."

Sonozaki-sama gestured. Two of the men in suits brought forth objects.

One of them was a bloodstained camera. The other one was a green jacket.

"Did any of you five know Tomitake Jirou-san or Takano Miyo-san?"

I nodded out of reflex. Everyone else nodded as well.

"They have broken in, and they have paid for it."

"Paid for it? How?" asked Rena.

"They are dead," said Kimiyoshi-san. "We found their bodies last night."

There was a collective gasp.

_Once again, they haven't changed the most important part._

"But... didn't you say that there were _three_ people in the Saiguiden?" said Koizumi. If it wouldn't have been rude, he would have been smacked so hard he'd drop his smile.

"Indeed, Koizumi-san. And the third person... is in this room with you."

Suddenly, there was the distinct and painful feeling of boot slamming into my back.

_No, please, don't!_

I tumbled forward and landed in an awkward and painful position in the center of the assembly hall. The crowd shifted away from me as if they were darkness and I was a candle.

"There is the man who broke into the Saiguiden!" said Sonozaki-sama.

And the crowd was alight. And a lot of the talk I heard was angry, and directed at me.

I tried looking to my peers for solace. I didn't get any. Nagato didn't meet my gaze. Asahina-san refused to meet it, like I was covered in horrible burns or something. Koizumi looked like he was more shocked at everyone else's treatment of me than at me. I saw Haruhi mouth, "How could you?".

I then looked at Rika for solace. She looked ashamed, like I was her favorite dog and I just bit the mailman and I had to be put down. She saw my gaze and looked away.

_No, please, I'm sorry, really! I'm really really sorry! I-I know I shouldn't have lied to you! I'm sorry. I'm sorry..._

Haruhi rose to her feet. She looked like she was ready to punch Sonozaki-sama.

"That's a lie!" she shouted. "He wouldn't do that! I know him! He's not that much of an idiot!"

Rena and Koizumi pulled her back down. The mutual glare between Haruhi and Sonozaki Oryou felt strong enough that it would kill anyone in between it.

"I'm sorry, Suzumiya-san, but there is pretty good evidence that points to him being in the Saiguiden," said Kimiyoshi-san.

He produced a photograph from his sleeve. It was pretty big, the size of your average letter paper.

Showcased in it was a cage shaped like a human torso and legs, several other sharp objects, and, in profile facing left, the unmistakable silhouette of my head.

"This was found in Tomitake-san's camera. You cannot deny it, 'Kyon'," said Sonozaki-sama, giving a grin that would unease a shark, "you WERE in the Saiguiden."

Before I could say anything in my defense, I was kicked in the side again. That set the crowd off again. I'm not going to ask for your pity, but I'd appreciate it. Isn't this a trial? Don't I get an attorney, or at least a representative?

I felt a hand grab my arm and drag me out of the center. Whoever that was, thank you, especially since now my head is on Asahina-san's lap, which is the best pillow that ever existed.

"At least let him say something!" shouted Haruhi. "Don't force him to accept this! I'm sure that this is a misunderstanding or something."

Sonozaki-sama glared at Haruhi again. But, she was cut off before she could speak.

"You may speak, sir." said Rika.

"Yes, it's only fair to hear his side of the story," said Kimiyoshi-san, cutting off Sonozaki-sama again.

She glared at me. It was an expression that made me thankful that my family has no history of cardiac problems.

"Speak."

I sat up.

"I wasn't in there of my own free will. I caught them breaking in, and they forced me inside. They didn't let me leave. Hell, they probably set me up so I'd take the fall for them."

I realized that there weren't any murmurs. Everyone was looking at me.

"Look, I'm sorry. If I have sinned, I most definitely didn't do it deliberately."

The room was completely quiet. Even Hanyuu's sobs stopped.

It was broken by Rika rising to her feet.

"I forgive him. There's no reason for Oyashiro-sama to be mad at someone for something they were forced to do. In fact, Oyashiro-sama would be disappointed if you hated him for this."

I heard Sonozaki-sama mutter something under her breath. Something like, "Such naiveity..."

Rika bowed and say back down. I decided to shift back into Asahina-san's lap.

"Of course, there is another issue." said Kimiyoshi-san.

"Yes..." said Sonozaki-sama. "I have heard that you are trying to solve Oyashiro-sama's curse. Two people have died from it this year. That would mean that two people would have to disappear. The curse has never been this bad, until you have arrived."

She smirked. I can't find a single gesture from this woman that's not threatening or scary.

"Now, according to Furude-san, Oyashiro-sama can forgive you. But, it needs to be done in a proper ceremony."

"No, it doesn't-" said Rika, but she was cut off.

"It is simple enough, and it can be performed at the shrine with little preparation time. In fact, I think I could perform it in my own house, it's that simple. We would even arrange for you to be sent home afterwards."

In coffins, I'd guess. I notice, Sonozaki-sama, that there's a distinct void in your proposition as to whether we'd live or not.

Rika stood up.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

_Oh no, you don't really, you want to speak to me, don't you._

She exited through the door I came in.

_Auu..._

"Well, can't we just leave and never come back?" I asked.

"Actually..."

The room went still as the doctor from the clinic stood up and cleared his throat.

"That would be a bad idea. I've read in Takano's notes that someone leaving Hinamizawa tends to end in them dying. Unless we-"

"That is true, yes." said Sonozaki-sama.

So, the way that I'm seeing this, there are three options for the SOS Brigade at the present time.

Option A: We go along with this 'ritual'. I'm guessing that it really means that one or more members of the SOS Brigade get sacrificed or ritually killed. Then, the rest of the SOS Brigade members (assuming we don't all get sacrificed) go home.

Option B: We escape or leave. But where would we go? If I went back to my home city, I'd probably run into my parents while they were my age, and (assuming there's no timely intervention from Doc Brown) I'd probably end up paradoxing myself out of existence somehow.

Option C: We stay in Hinamizawa. Seeing as Sonozaki probably wants us dead, and she stamped out my dignity just now, the odds of survival are really low.

So, I suppose we should leave this up to the judges.

On that note, Rika returned.

"I've made my decision, sir."

"And?" said Sonozaki-sama.

"They should leave as soon as they can."

"Fufufufu... but Irie-san just said that they would die if they left."

Rika went over to the doctor. They had a whispered yet energetic conversation.

"We can arrange so that that doesn't happen." said Rika.

"So, your decision still stands?"

"Yes. It would be best for them."

"I see... and what do you say, Kimiyoshi-san?"

"Well, ignoring anything that Rika and Irie-san do, if what Irie-san says is true, then there is no reason whatsoever to not send them away. If Oyashiro-sama wants their blood, he'll have it no matter where they go. And, if they go, they can't hurt us."

"Hmm... very well." said Sonozaki-sama. "I think I have a solution to this problem. You are obviously blessed with 'modern' sensibilities-"

Actually, four of us have, by your calendar, post-modern sensibilities. The other one has no sense whatsoever.

"-so I shall take a modern approach to my verdict. I am not familiar with law enforcement, but, it would be suspicious if five potential suspects left the day after two murders occurred. Until the murders of Tomitake-san and Takano-san are solved, you shall stay where you are."

_What?_

The crowd started murmuring again. I noticed that Rika looked like Sonozaki-sama gave us the death sentence. She wasn't moving. Her jaw was practically grafted to the ground, and the color was draining from her skin.

_I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry._

"In the mean time," said Sonozaki-sama, "you should treat our guests with the same hospitality that you have been treating them. This meeting means nothing."

She stood up.

"The meeting is over. You are dismissed."

* * *

Eventually, we stood up. Not that I was in any hurry to go, but the farther I can get from all these looks, the better.

"Did... did we win?" asked Asahina-san.

"Well, unless we get our throats slit in the middle of the night," something which I find quite plausible, "we'll live to see tomorrow."

"And then what?"

"Well... I don't know."

We started heading out. The people were giving me looks that ranged from loathing to pity.

"I'd say that that's at least a small success," said Haruhi. "I mean, we aren't dead, and I still get my chance to poke around the Sonozaki estate."

"You can't still want to do that," I said. "That's the parts with Sonozaki Oryou in it. Don't do anything to piss her off, okay?"

"No, she spared us. That means-"

"-that she's waiting for you to screw up again."

"But she didn't kill us _now_. Wouldn't you call that mercy?"

_I'm sorry... I'm really sorry._

I stopped us.

"No. Hell no. She went contrary to what everyone else on the council wanted. There's probably a reason for that."

"Look, I'm sorry that we can't go. A decree is a decree. Hell, she'd probably hunt us down with dogs and murder us if we left. Assuming the curse didn't get us first."

_I'm sorry._

We started walking again. Haruhi looked at Koizumi and frowned.

"Koizumi, smile, why don't ya. It's weird that you aren't."

She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Look, I can't just snap my fingers and make everything better. There's some things even your Brigade leader can't do."

_I'm sorry._

Koizumi hesitated at the exit to the hall long enough to get out of Haruhi's line of sight.

"You should..." he said quietly.

_I'm sorry._

Then he smiled and matched pace with Haruhi again. She started going on about everything else we could do and explore.

I was cut off by the group by a light hand grasping my arm.

It was Rika.

_I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry._

"Sir..."

_I'm sorry._

I felt my course shift away from the rest of the people and onto a different path.

_I'm sorry._

In contrast to the weeping Hanyuu, Rika was dead silent. She never made eye contact. Her expression was stony and unchanging.

_I'm sorry. I'm really sorry._

"I screwed up, didn't I." I said.

_I'm sorry._

She didn't respond.

_I'm sorry. I'm really sorry._

I felt like she was disappointed with me. Like she had put me on a pedestal which Sonozaki Oryou smashed with a sledgehammer.

_I'm sorry. I'm really really-_

Stop saying that! It wasn't your fault. It was mine. Hell, it was probably Tomitake's and Takano's fault more than it was either of ours.

"It's not your fault," said Rika. There's that dark, creepy voice.

_I'm sorry._

"Who were you talking to?" I asked.

Suddenly, the path opened up the the Furude Shrine. It was huge when viewed at this distance. Rika sat down on the steps of the shrine.

"You didn't leave," she said.

_I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!_

I joined her on the steps.

"I couldn't. I'm trapped here."

"Yes. Because of _her_. Because of Suzumiya-san."

"Well, no, because of Sonozaki-san. But that's also true, I guess."

Rika slumped and sighed.

"This happened last time."

For the next several minutes, all the sound there was was Hanyuu's sobbing.

"I assume that that time ended badly?" I said.

"It had to. There hasn't been a good ending in a hundred years."

She looked at me. There were tears in her eyes.

"I thought you had escaped. I thought you left. I was _told_ that you had left."

_I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I was only trying to help! I thought that would make you happy!_

Rika gritted her teeth and looked away.

_I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!_

"I was lied to by my best friend. And you're still here."

_I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

"Look, people lie. That's a fact of life. Not to be the devil's advocate - metaphorically speaking, but it can't hurt to forgive her." I said.

"..."

"...oh, I see. You're not mad at _her_, are you."

"Me and Hanyuu could be said to be one and the same."

"So, you're mad at her, _and_ at yourself, for, essentially, screwing me over."

"...yes."

"Well, I might as well try my hardest to live, for your sake."

She looked back at me. Tears aside, there was a slight hint of a smile in her eyes.

"Really?"

"Yeah, definitely. Got any tips for me?"

She blinked.

"I... I don't have any. Just remember that Oyashiro-sama is not a threat to you. It's the people in it. And... if you see your friends acting strangely, especially Suzumiya-san and Nagato-san... be careful. I remember them at their worst, and demons would have not dared to cross them."

She stood up.

"I forgive you for going into the Saiguiden. We both do."

_It's my fault, not yours._

She pulled out an olive notebook.

"These are some of Takano-san's notes. I couldn't make any sense of them, but that's just me. I hope that you can help unravel this mystery. I think it's the only way for you - for all of us - to make it out of here alive."

I pocketed the notebook.

"Thank you. I'll do my best," I said.

She bowed._  
_

"Goodbye, Kyon."

As she ran down the steps of the shrine, the way that she held out her arms and skipped down the steps made me remember that, in fact, I had been talking with a little girl.

As I got up, I felt a weird sensation around my shoulders, and the feeling of weight hanging from my back.

"I'm sorry," said Hanyuu.

The tingle and weight vanished, and I was alone on the shrine's steps. I started walking down the path and out of the shrine. The sun was just below the treeline, and the higurashi choir was out in full force. The roads of Hinamizawa were practically barren, and the SOS Brigade was nowhere in sight.

Eventually, I came across someone that I recognized; Rena. She was walking alone, and she (thankfully) had no weapon in hand. When I got closed, she turned to face me and she smiled.

"Oh, hello, Kyon-kun."

"Hey."

"It's too bad that you had to go on trial."

"That wasn't a trial, that was just me being humiliated in front of everyone."

"Well, I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Thanks."

"I feel sorry for Tomitake-san and Takano-san, too. So sad, so sad."

"Yeah, I guess I'm lucky that I wasn't 'cursed'."

Rena spontaneously froze.

"You aren't lucky."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

She turned back and looked at me.

"Oyashiro-sama is very, very angry with you."

Oh, god, what the hell is up with her eyes? They were definitely not all slitted and dull a few seconds ago! That doesn't look human! Or even natural!

I couldn't formulate a response. The sudden change in attitude and pupil shape startled me past the point of language. All I could get out was a gasp.

"You are a bad spot, Kyon-kun. You are a stain on Hinamizawa." Her voice was devoid of all inflection. She sounded only barely less monotone than Nagato does, and at least Nagato has an excuse.

"L-look, Oyashiro-sama doesn't hate me, okay?"

"Oh?"

She chuckled.

"Who says that?"

"Rika does."

Rena laughed. Not a cackling evil one, but it was more than a chuckle.

"Rika doesn't know anything. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Or maybe she lies to Kyon? I wonder... I wonder..."

I decided to get the hell out of there.

"Where are you going?"

That phrase had the weight of a magic spell. I froze and turned towards her, not completely willingly. She walked towards me. Her steps had too much resonance for an average teenage girl.

"Oyashiro-sama doesn't like you. Rena doesn't like you, either. You don't even exist."

"What? That doesn't even make sense!"

"How can you exist if you haven't been born?"

Okay, what are you getting at?

"When were you born, Kyon-kun?"

"Uh, July 7th, 1968."

Not true at all. And not just because I'm lying like a dog; I actually said my correct day and month, but I'm using Tanabata now because I don't feel comfortable with you all knowing it.

She laughed. This laugh, on the other hand, is the cackling evil laugh.

"Why do you lie, Kyon? Oyashiro-sama _hates_ liars..."

She caressed my neck. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. The spots where she touched me tingled unpleasantly.

"You were born in 1994, weren't you? Isn't that how it all adds up?"

She leaned in close enough to me that I felt her hair on my forehead. As irrational as a fear of being eaten is, I'm pretty sure that demons are anthrophages, and that's what I'm guessing is right in front of me.

"_Get out. You aren't welcome here._"

I tried to take a step back, but I misjudged where I was stepping and I ended up falling on my ass.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again!"

And just like that, the normal sing-song voice and the human, round pupils were back so fast I could've gotten whiplash. The sudden contrast was enough to leave me practically dazed until she left in a completely ordinary way.

What the hell was that? Seriously, if someone could explain that, I'll try my hardest to find where you live and pay you. But... she knew where I was from. Or rather, _when_ I was from. She knew that I was born years after this day was gone.

Keiichi, you bastard, I thought I could trust you.

But what was she, just then? Not Rena, that's for sure. It seemed, for all intensive purposes, like she was possessed. But that can't happen. Yes, I know that I'm one to talk, what with me knowing aliens and the like, but demons are both straight from religion and not one of Haruhi's big interests. There's no way they can exist.

Right?


	3. Chapter 3: Descent into Hell

**The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya: Tsukuribanashi-hen**

**Chapter Three: Descent into Hell**

* * *

_I watched an angel fall from heaven today._

_He fell like a broken bird._

_I saw the angel's face as he fell._

_He looked like he didn't know why he was falling._

_I saw the angel die._

_Angels can break just like anyone else._

_I looked back up at Heaven_

_And I saw who pushed the angel._

- Fredrica Bernkastel_  
_

* * *

I felt awful. Absolutely awful.

I still ached from the boot to my back, the anxiety and terror and summer heat made me nauseous, the circumstances - first being asked to try to solve the mystery of Hinamizawa by Rika, and then getting a huge dose of creepy courtesy of Ryuugu Rena - made my head swim, and the part of my neck that Rena touched still tingled unpleasantly. I felt like scratching at it would make it better, but I didn't want to risk losing my fingers or anything weird like that.

I mean, it doesn't even make sense. One moment, someone tells me that Oyashiro-sama forgives me. The next, someone else tells me that he hates me. I could easily just write off the whole encounter with Rena as a hallucination if it wasn't for my neck. I can feel it pulsing slightly, and that's a distinct physical response.

When I finally reached the Maebara household, I went from the door to the couch in one fluid motion. Lying on the couch, watching baseball games that I vaguely remembered the results for, well, it wasn't pearly gates and fluffy clouds, but I called it heaven.

Keiichi and his parents hadn't come back yet. I didn't know what they were doing, and frankly, I didn't care.

As is often the case, my serenity was broken by the phone ringing. By the time I got up and to the phone, the answering machine had caught the call and it was ringing again.

"Hello?" I said.

"Yes, this is the Okinomiya book store. Am I speaking to Kyon?"

"What? No. Well, you are, but I haven't even heard of that place."

Did Nagato buy some books in my name? I mean, I'm fine with that, but it's polite to ask before you do that sort of thing.

"Not many people have. Nh-fu-fu-fu-fu."

Oh, it's _this_ guy.

"Well, if you didn't order any books, perhaps we can talk," said Ooishi. "How'd it go?"

"Well, I'm not dead, but that's not exactly a relief."

"What'd she decide to do with you?"

"She said that I couldn't go until you wrapped up Takano's murder. Judging by the reactions of everyone else, I'm guessing that's a punishment."

"Probably. Well, considering what we have to go on, I'd estimate that it'll be about... three weeks, give or take a week. But, with that sentence, there's innocent lives directly at stake. We can probably shave a week off the process."

"Thank you."

"I heard that the Sonozakis had Takano-san's coat at the trial, as well as Tomitake-san's camera. Do you know what happened to them?"

"No, but I do have a notebook of Takano's notes."

"Really? What's in it?"

As I pulled the notebook out of my pocket, I thought of a really good question to ask Ooishi.

"What do you know about Ryuugu Rena?"

"Ryuugu-san, huh? She actually has a bit of an interesting story behind her. Why do you ask?"

If I told him that she seemed to be possessed, he'd probably take what I have to say less seriously. Or, maybe not, but I don't want to risk it.

"We ran into each other on the way home. She threatened me; told me to leave Hinamizawa. It was actually pretty scary."

"Yes, that seems to match up with what information we have on her. According to her file, she's somewhat psychologically unstable."

Well, if by 'somewhat psychologically unstable', you mean 'demonically possessed', I agree wholeheartedly.

"Let's see..."

As Ooishi looked for her file (at least, that's what it sounded like), the hand not holding the notebook subconsciously migrated to the side of my neck and started scratching.

"Ah. Apparently, she once broke all the windows in her school before she arrived in Hinamizawa. She's been placed under house arrest in the past, and she also gets counseling from a doctor."

"Sounds like quite the profile. You said she's had an interesting experience with Oyashiro-sama, right?"

"According to her, a ghost-like being called 'Oyashiro-sama' stands over her as she sleeps and looks over her."

"The same Oyashiro-sama that's the deity of Hinamizawa?"

"Well... I honestly don't know. There are some mentions of it, this one included, that vary from the standard version. Then again, some gods have multiple incarnations."

"So, there could be an incarnation that watches over the town, an incarnation that follows Rena..."

...and another that calls herself Hanyuu? Bah, this is making my head hurt. Definitely a good reason why I should never go with religious studies as my major when I get to that level.

"Anyway, she's also beaten three boys nearly to death with a baseball bat at around the same time."

"So, she's a nut."

"Well, there's always supernatural causes - possession and the like - but we probably should not count that as a rule. Then again, this town is full of people with questionable backgrounds, so it may be more than coincidence. I mean, even Maebara-san has a dark past."

"Really?"

"Yep, before he came here, he was arrested. Shot a young girl with a pellet gun, I think."

"Bullshit!" That wasn't a claim of Keiichi's innocence, but more of a verbal spit-take. Assuming that Ooishi's being honest (and, being an authority who's actually siding with me, is probably a safe assumption), this completely changes things. I'm sharing a house with a person who shoots little girls. Nothing could make me feel less safe. The entire atmosphere of the house has changed for the worse.

"Sorry about that," I said. "That just caught me off guard, that's all."

Ooishi laughed. "It's a reasonable response. Now, about that notebook..."

The notebook had a small sheet of paper in it. I opened the book and caught the paper before it hit the ground. It was blank; I'm guessing it was used as a bookmark.

"So, what's in the book?" said Ooishi.

As I read through it, I read it aloud to Ooishi.

"One of the more common rumors or legends is the Messenger of Oyashiro-sama. This person comes into contact with the person who is 'demoned away' a few days before they vanish. Whether this is coincidence or this individual has po-"

I turned the page. Taped in was a picture of Rena.

"Rena...? Is she this 'messenger'?"

"Hmmm... I've heard that I've been called that title myself. I'm not aware if she was directly associated with the first victim, but she was good friends with the children of the other groups who were 'demoned away', and was part of the same group as Hojo Satoshi."

"That's interesting. Oh, here's a comment near the picture, in red ink."

"What's it say?"

"It says, 'How do they disappear? There should at least be some sign...' Wait, weren't there remains for Takano herself?"

"That's still a point of contention. Anyway, yes, there really hasn't been anything regarding a trace for the third and fourth victims, and we haven't found the remains of the first and second. They could be taken and hidden by the townsfolk. Or, they could be in Onigafuchi swamp."

"Well, haven't you searched the swamp?"

"The fact that it's a volcanic swamp and the legends behind it mean that police divers won't touch it. And after the incident with the dam, nobody would dare to try to drain it."

"Well, that's interesting. Definitely more plausible than them being 'demoned away' or disinte-"

It was the quietest sound.

_Kssh._

I felt my fingernails break the skin of my neck, and a warm tingle run down.

"Er, hold on, I think I accidentally cut myself," I said. "Let me just..."

I looked down at my fingertips to see how bad the bleeding was.

It wasn't bad. Because I wasn't bleeding. My fingertips were coated not in a red liquid like I was expecting, but in what looked like glitter. It felt very... bizarre.

"Look, I'll call you back." I hung up.

There was a mirror in the bathroom. When I looked to see what was happening, I was frozen.

No. There is no way in hell that this is happening.

My neck was leaking white dust.

A fine, sparkling white powder was pouring from my neck as if it were an hourglass. The dust seemed to be forming from the edges of a widening black hole in my neck. The dust lingered for a second before fading away.

Oh, dear god, I'm disintegrating.

I've seen this happen before. This dust isn't unfamiliar. This is the dust that Asakura Ryoko turned into when she disintegrated into nothingness. But there is no way in hell that it should be pouring out of my neck.

My first reaction (besides swearing) was to clamp my hand over the hole in my neck before any more of this dust could leak out. That barely helped. The second was to find a first-aid kit or bandages or _something_ that could at least stem the bandages.

Every neuron in my brain was firing in sheer panic. And the data dust was unceasing. I didn't even bother thinking about why or how this happened.

I practically tore up the house looking for anything that could help. If it didn't fade away, the house would have been absolutely coated in the dust. I realized that there wasn't anything that _could_ help me. I mean, what can stop this? Nagato? Haruhi? That's not an option anymore.

I started feeling dizzy. I tried to make my way to my bed. I succeeded, in that I ended up there. However, that was because I tripped and collapsed on it.

And as everything faded to black, there was only one sound that lingered.

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

* * *

When I woke up, I was actually in my bed as opposed to on top of it. I could hear birdsong.

Wait a second, I'm not dead, or disintegrated.

I sat up and felt my neck. I felt cloth. It didn't feel at all like there was a giant hole in my neck. You know, I could question this turn of events. Hell, I probably should. But I really don't feel like doing that.

What time is it, anyway?

I slowly rose to my feet and I made my way to the door with all the haste of continental drift.

"There you are!"

The sudden and _very_ unwelcome presence of Haruhi startled me enough to knock me back onto the floor. My ears rang and I groaned.

"You're finally awake! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Look, those are both good questions, and I don't know if I have the answers."

Keiichi appeared behind Haruhi. He was carrying a tray with a bowl of soup and a glass of orange juice on it.

"How are you feeling?" he said.

"Awful. What happened last night?"

"Me and my family came home last night and found you passed out in here. You had a nasty hole in your neck. But it looks like you were bandaged up nicely."

So, that's what this cloth is? Good. Although the idea that this cloth can stop disintegration doesn't sound plausible.

"I'm really disappointed," said Haruhi. "I can't believe that I'm the only SOS Brigade member who bothered to show up."

"So, was it just you two?" I asked.

"Oh, not at all," said Keiichi. "My parents were the ones that found you. We called the doctor, and he fixed your neck. Rika came over too."

"Yeah, that was almost eerie. I was just about to call her house, too," said Haruhi.

Rika... that explains how I'm not dead. I'm not one to believe in divine intervention, but if faith healing can heal a disintegrating neck, that's quite literally a miracle. And, really, what else could heal that?

"I think Rena was here too, wasn't she?"

"Oh yeah, I think she showed up before I did, didn't she..."

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I remembered the cause to the effect that left me passed out for the entire night. Completely helpless... and with caretakers that still think that Rena's perfectly innocent.

"Rena?"

They nodded.

I looked at my pillow. I don't know what compelled me to look, but I know what compelled me to keep looking.

There was a bloody handprint on the pillow.

"She... she was in here?"

They nodded.

"While I was out cold?"

"Yeah, she came in sometime last night, after I called Mikuru." said Haruhi.

I could vaguely remember a sensation while I was out cold. Someone next to me. Someone... embracing me.

I picked up the pillow with the handprint. Good god, that's scant centimeters from where my head was.

"Oh, that? That was there before I got here." said Haruhi.

The other pillow was depressed, like someone was laying his or her head there. I pulled a hair off it, a hair that was much too long to be mine.

"You didn't ever let Rena in here with me, alone, right?"

They shrugged.

"It's possible..." said Keiichi.

I stood back up, trying my hardest to hold it in.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to use the bathroom."

Keiichi and Haruhi parted to let me through. I made my way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

The white bandages and the white T-shirt I was wearing made me look like I was wearing a sort of turtleneck.

But... there were bits of red on my neck. On my shirt. On my _face..._

We interrupt this story to allow your narrator the opportunity to turn towards the toilet and vomit.

* * *

I feel no shame in admitting that most of the rest of the day was spent in an almost Lady Macbeth-like way, trying to get clean. But even after taking a bath that lasted for hours, I still felt dirty.

Rena had been in my room, and in my bed. And I'm guessing that, since the neck wound was bloodless, that some external figure applied the blood gratuitously to my body.

My imagination is not helping matters, either. Every time I picture the potential scene, Rena's hands are always in a different place - resting or holding onto a different spot on her or my body.

Yeah, you can see why I'm not at the top of my game as of right now.

Fortunately, Keiichi and his parents are here, ready to help me through this. Unfortunately, so is Haruhi.

"Oh, c'mon, Kyon, stop acting like you've been raped."

I haven't ruled that out yet, you know.

That's when Haruhi slapped me across the face. I figure that she was doing the sort of slap that gets people out of their tents and back onto the battlefield. But that one just hurt, and it made me say something that I won't repeat and that got me slapped legitimately.

"Gah, just... you've done enough for me," I said, "and I'm thankful, but you're just too much for my system right now."

"Oh, c'mon, Kyon."

I was then yanked off of the sofa I was on and almost out the door before I grabbed on to the door frame.

"Haruhi, please, any day but today. I'm not in the mood to go running around. I mean, I just threw up a few hours ago."

"But Kyon, I heard that there's a spring not too far from here. Really great. Waterfall and everything."

"I'll stick with my bath, thank you."

"Come on, Kyon. You really need to get out of the house. So what if Rena did some creepy stuff to you? Even if you are overreacting... anyway, she knows where you live, so if you stay here-"

"Alright, alright. I'll go."

"That's the spirit! I knew I could find the right button to press."

"Yeah, yeah. Let me go get a bathing suit or something."

I wouldn't be surprised if there was one in one of my near-bottomless bag of stuff. Haruhi's the sort of person who would pack swimsuits to a mountain village. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd bring parkas to the Amazon, or sunglasses to an Antartic expedition in July.

However, Haruhi grabbed me by the arm before I could even leave the foyer. (Yeah, I meant _genkan_, but I really doubt that any of you know what that means.)

"Nope! You don't need anything. Nothing wrong with a good skinny dip!"

There's a lot of things wrong with that. Besides, I object to your attempts to add male fanservice to a story that both probably won't be read by any girls and that _really_ doesn't need it.

"But, Kyon, there's..."

There was a distinct delay that was accompanied by Haruhi resting her chin on her fist in a standing impression of Rodin's famous statue. Then, she looked inspired.

"It's a magic spring! Blessed by Oyashiro-sama himself! But if you're wearing anything, no blessing."

"What sort of blessing?"

If what I've experienced about Oyashiro-sama has any relevance, a spring blessed by it would probably cook me at 400 degrees until until I'm golden brown.

"It washes troubles and sins away! Anyone who gets in - naked - is forgiven of anything bad they've done."

One, that's the worst lie I've ever heard. Two, I don't need forgiveness, I need protection. Three... why are you looking at me like that? You only have that expression when you're about to force Asahina-san into...

Uh-oh.

* * *

I admit, I had to give Haruhi at least a little bit of credit. At the moment, Rena wasn't weighing heavily on my mind. The main problem I had was trying to save my pants from the clothes-snatcher known as Haruhi. She had already taken my shirt, and was trying to get everything off.

"C'mon! Isn't this a whole lot better than laying around in a sad state like you were?"

Not really, no.

Turns out, she was right. There _was_ a small spring, complete with waterfall. I'm going to call that a stroke of pure luck, seeing as she can't work her strange world-warping magic here. However, it was pretty damn far away, about an hour on bikes. If I tried to straight-up run away, I'd get lost, and probably eaten by wolves or something.

In my dodging of the perverted Brigade leader, I ended up doing something stupid. Said stupidity was climbing up a rock face, putting my pants at Haruhi's eye level. A few more steps from me, and they were in her hands. Before you ask, yes, I was wearing underwear, and no, it wasn't anything either overtly erotic or overtly silly. Sorry, ladies, but unless you get aroused by conventional, navy blue briefs, I'd advise going elsewhere.

Also, I discovered that, after the sudden shock of losing my pants and a tumble into the spring later, they doubled just fine as swimming trunks.

The water actually felt really nice. Not anything like the bathwater, but I didn't feel like I was going to get hypothermia, either.

"Aw, you won't get any blessing like that! Take it off!" said Haruhi.

"No! I'm not taking it off! Especially with Mion and Keiichi watching!"

Yes, Sonozaki-san and Maebara-san were sitting on the edge of the pool, watching Haruhi's assault with grins on their faces.

"Aw, come on, show us your sea bear!" said Mion.

I stopped running around like an idiot, and stood calmly in the spring, too far away for Haruhi to reach me without getting wet.

"Look, ladies, I'll take it off-"

That got a sound which probably was the real-life equivalent of a squee from the girls.

"-if you don't look. Sure, I'll get myself blessed, but not in front of you."

"Oh, come on!" said Haruhi.

However, I saw Mion doing something that heavily resembled pointing out to Haruhi where a good vantage spot was, up past the waterfall.

"Sure. Fine. We can do that." said Haruhi.

Haruhi and Mion ran off. Keiichi didn't.

"Well? You don't need to stick around."

Not only did he stick around, he started taking his shirt off. I heard a sound that sounded like the one the girls made coming from some bushes.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Getting in, of course."

He finished taking his shirt off and started on his pants.

"Wait, you're not stripping down, are you?" I said.

"Well, that's how you get the blessing, isn't it?" said Keiichi.

Okay, I'm aware that there's a lot of undertones that are present, most of them homosexual. I'm going to state once, and only once, that I'm 100% straight. If you want to see a barrage of comments about how not-gay someone is, you won't get them from me.

"You do realize that there's nothing of the sort, and Haruhi made that up to get me out of my pants?" That sounded a lot less sexual in my head, trust me.

"Well, legends have to start somewhere. Her belief is as good as any."

"Fine, believe what you want."

Once he started taking off his underwear, I turned my back towards him. Didn't need to see his, ergh, "sea bear".

"You don't seem like the sort of person that has a lot of sins."

"Well, everyone has things that they've done that they're not proud of."

That exact moment was when I remembered the remark that Ooishi made about him. The one about the little girl and the pellet gun.

And I'm in a spring with this guy, naked. I've seen people get killed while bathing countless times in movies and the like. And I have my back to the guy. Damnit, even in the shirtless scene, Hinamizawa has to throw in a crapload of scary.

Well, might as well bring up the elephant in the room. If he's in here, odds are, he's repenting for that.

I picked up a rock from the pool bed and threw it at the bushes. It sounded like two deer ran off. The waterfall gurgled, and the higurashi cried.

"Well, personally, if you have something you're not proud of, I'd confront it. It's better than resorting to 'magic' or running away." I said.

"Moving on, away from all the memories of your mistakes, is not the same as running away."

"I never said it was. Is that why you came to Hinamizawa? You were a pariah in your home town?"

"No, I, well, what are you implying?"

"Did she die?"

There was utter silence. Even the higurashi knew to shut up.

"...no," said Keiichi, "none of them did."

You shot more than one? That just makes it worse.

I could feel the look he was giving the back of my head.

"Look," he said, "I don't know where you heard that from, but that was in the past. I'm not that Maebara Keiichi anymore."

"Well, I'm just uneasy knowing I'm living with the sort of person who would do that."

"Don't be."

There was more silence.

"Who told you?" said Keiichi.

"The detective mentioned it. Believe me, I didn't want to know."

He didn't respond.

"Don't hate me, alright?" I said.

Still more silence. Eventually, I heard him get out of the spring.

"I'm not mad at you. If you didn't want to know, it's not your fault that you know. Everyone has their skeletons in the closet, and mine are just a bit... scarier. Let's just leave it in my nightmares, okay?"

"Alright. Are you wearing pants yet?"

Keiichi chuckled, presumably out of the sheer contrast between the phrase and the previously dark conversation.

"I am now."

I turned to face him. He was smiling. And wearing pants. I climbed out and dried off.

"Hey, can you do a favor for me?" I asked.

"Yeah, probably."

"Can you try your best to keep Rena away from me? I mean, she's nice and all, and I know you two are really good friends, but I'm just not comfortable with her being anywhere near me."

"Well, seeing how you reacted today, I don't mind. Let's head home."

And we started heading back.

* * *

We caught Keiichi's parents as they were heading out the door, with bags in hand. Apparently, something had come up with Keiichi's dad and his job, and they had to go to Tokyo for a few days.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon," said Keiichi's mother. "I assume that you can take care of yourselves, right?"

"We'll be fine, Mom," said Keiichi. "I'll make sure that he is okay."

"Hey, why am I the one being cared for?" I said, with false indignity.

"Because I'm not the one who passed out, threw up, was forcibly stripped - should I go on?" said Keiichi.

"Touché."

I noticed that Keiichi's parents had raised an eyebrow at that last one.

"Haruhi." I said. They nodded knowingly. I can't believe that she's already ingrained enough here to the point where I can do that.

"Well, we have to get going. See you in a few days." said Keiichi.

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!"

And I never saw them again.

Now, the two boys had the house to ourselves. Keiichi was talking this well. All smiles and excitement. I admit, at a basic level (two boys with a massive house all to themselves, in a town with such an immense saturation of teenage girls), this situation would be ideal for a slice of life story, or a harem manga, or a comedy. But, as you've noticed, we're not in one of those. Come to think of it, that's also a good set-up for a horror movie...

We sat on the couch.

"So, what do you want to-" said Keiichi.

There was a loud smack of something on glass. That sound removed any good feelings or positive emotion I had. All that was left was sheer, pure, terror. The first thought that my mind leapt to was Oyashiro-sama knocking on the glass, wanting in. The second was _Rena_ knocking on the glass, wanting in. Oddly, the god wasn't as alarming as a potential intruder as the girl was.

Keiichi had left the room to see what it was, and he returned.

"Huh, must've been a bird or something."

Even though I physically kept my composure, my mind had curled up into a small ball. The thought of two of the most trustworthy people not being there to protect me, in particular, made me want to hide.

"Hmm... you know, I can talk to Rena if you're really that scared of her."

"Yeah, that'd be great." I said.

"Okay. Hm, I think I'll get some snacks, too. Want anything?"

"Get me something that's both chocolate and something I can snack on. Chocolate-covered pretzels or something like that, assuming someone's thought of those yet."

"Alright. Take care."

Keiichi left, leaving me alone in a rather small house.

Locking the door behind him seemed like a good place to start.

I locked all the windows, and shut the blinds. I also locked every other door to the house as well. But it didn't feel safe enough. I needed a weapon, something I could defend myself with in case something chopped the door down or went past it entirely.

I found a pair of old, heavy, iron scissors in one of the drawers. They're sharp enough, but without the conspicuousness and possibility of accidentally hurting myself that a knife would have. Plus, they have all the utility that a pair of scissors would have.

I still didn't feel safe. I didn't like being alone in this house. So I made a phone call to summon one of the other Brigade members here.

Seeing as I'd need to have had an aneurysm to even consider calling up Haruhi for companionship, I don't know Nagato's number (or hotel, come to think of it), and Koizumi is, well, Koizumi, I decided to risk getting on the phone with Rena and I called Asahina-san.

"Hello?"

That was a man's voice on the other end.

"Uh, is this the Ryuugu household?" I said.

"Yes it is. Who is this?"

"This is Kyon."

"Oh, you're one of the Brigade, aren't you. Well, if you're calling Asahina-san, she's out. If you're calling Rena-chan, she's out, too."

"Well, I was calling, but I can call back if you-"

"Oh, there's no need. She's heading over to check up on you, actually."

I felt my heart slam into my sternum.

"She's... she's coming here?"

"Well, you're in the Maebara house, right?"

"Yeah..."

"That's where she's headed."

I hung up and collapsed. Rena is going to pay a visit. The girl who's invaded my bed, and god knows what else, is coming over, at the exact moment my best and only ally is gone. The only way this could be worse is, well, I'm not going to tempt fate by saying anything, so I'll just say that it can get worse, but not by much.

My freak-out was interrupted by a very loud knocking on the front door.

My heart still hammering away like a dwarf was carving out my chest with a pickaxe, I slowly made my way to the door. There wasn't a peephole, so I unlocked everything but the chain and opened the door a crack.

"_Kyon~"_

The only thing I could see was a golden, slitted eye.

"How are you?" said Rena. Her voice didn't sound right. It wasn't deeper or echoing, it was just... wrong. It wasn't hers.

"I... I-I'm fine, thanks for asking."

Wow, I managed to get out a straight response to Rena without breaking down. I must have more nerves than I thought.

"That's nice. I have a present for you."

I opened the door a bit more, and looked past the eyes. She was holding onto her billhook. It had a lot of rust-colored stains on it, that weren't there the last time I saw it.

"Uh, thanks but no thanks," I said.

"Oh? I thought you'd like it."

"No, I'm good. Honest."

Can you please leave? I'd like one night where I don't have to deal with some insane bitch who probably wants to kill me.

"That's not very nice, Kyon. Why would you say something like that?"

I heard a light chuckle.

"I mean, didn't we almost kiss?"

What? No! No, we didn't, unless you were walked in on attempting one while I was out cold.

"I thought you liked me."

Well, maybe I did, when we met, but you've taken a crapload of levels in Scary Bitch since then."

"You're acting really strange, Kyon. What's the matter?"

"The only problem is that you're not leaving."

The only response was a chuckle.

"Go home, Rena."

"Rena...?"

I tried to shut the door, but it didn't. I presumed that she was holding it open with her foot. I saw her tilt her head.

"I'm not Rena."

"Then who are you?"

"Don't you know?"

I felt my neck throb. She (if I can still use that pronoun) caused this, and there's not a circumstance in the world that would make me let her in.

That was when she revealed a weakness, something that I could seize, and use against her. She started poking her hand through the door. I don't know why, but Rena's track record would suggest something malicious.

I waited until she had her entire wrist in the door, my hand waiting on the handle, before I slammed it with all my might. I caught her right on the joint of the wrist, and I was rewarded with a shriek.

"W-w-w-what are you doing?" Her voice now sounded even less like Rena's.

I pulled the door again, and I got more writhing.

"This really hurts, Kyon. Let me go..."

I complied, and opened the door... long enough for her to get her wrist out. I slammed the door again, on her knuckles, and I put my weight into it.

"Kyon, you're hurting me. Stop-"

"Like hell I will! Screw your crocodile tears, they're not going to work on me!"

Now, if you will excuse me for a second, I would like to make a statement about sympathy in fiction. In most circumstances, the protagonist is supposed to be sympathetic. You can't have an audience hating the protagonist and liking the antagonist, or the story has fallen flat. And if you have a protagonist fighting someone else, no matter what the circumstances or logic behind it is, you want the audience to root for the protagonist.

You're wondering why I did that, I can tell. Well, there is a reason for that. There's also a reason why I'm not going to tell you what I said to Rena; I don't want you to hate me. I said some things that I would say to no human being, or anything that I wasn't sure was a demon. I'm also not going to tell you how saying those things made me feel, because, seriously, not even _I_ would sympathize with someone who got joy out of saying things like the things I said.

By the time that I had stopped screaming at her and slamming the door on her hand, it was twisted and bleeding.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

I opened the door and let her hand slip out.

"Don't come back." I said.

I don't know if she heard that, because when I looked, she was gone.

Now, that... was incredibly cathartic. I had just fought off what was definitely a monster from invading my house, and I got her good.

All was quiet. I collapsed on the wall near the door and let the adrenaline drain from my system.

_**SLAM!**_

Nothing in print, no color or size of font, could properly convey how sudden, scary, and utterly _loud_ that sound was. If this was a visual novel or an anime, that sound would have to be thirty times as loud as the next loudest sound.

The door had slammed open, and the chain was almost pulled out of the wall by the force. I heard Rena cackle.

"You aren't the only one who would need to die, Kyon. There are many, many doors in Hinamizawa that aren't locked."

I got up, ran too the door, drew my scissors in my right hand, unlocked the chain with my left, and I slammed it open.

Nothing but the stillness of the twilight.

I cursed the act of stealthy disappearances and made my way back to the couch. After who knows how long, I heard it open.

"Hey, it's me," said Keiichi. He entered the living room and threw me the bag of chocolate pretzels that I completely forgot about.

"Thanks." I said.

"Hey, what happened to the door? It looks like you smashed the hell out of something with it."

"Yeah, Rena stopped by."

"She did? I'm sorry. Talk about bad timing, huh? I completely missed her."

"Hey, it's not-"

The phone rang. Keiichi answered it. I didn't see his reaction, but I did hear it.

"Hello? Yeah, he-alright, alright, calm down."

He popped into the living room.

"It's for you."

I put it up to my ear.

"Kyon. Get over here. **Now.**"

* * *

That was Haruhi, and she sounded **pissed.** This was an entire new world of angry for her. I could feel the evil eye she was giving me through the phone.

"Well, I-"

She had hung up. I didn't know where "here" was. I'll just hope like hell that she meant the Sonozaki estate and go there.

I grabbed my snack and started heading out the door.

"Hey, where are you off to?" asked Keiichi.

"Impromptu Brigade meeting, by the looks of it."

I opened my pretzels and started heading over.

The pretzels were polished off by the time I made it to the Sonozaki estate. Wow, this place _is_ huge. What do I do, go door to door until I find her room? Psh, like that won't get me killed.

The door of the estate was opened by a man who couldn't not have been in the Yakuza - suit, sunglasses, slicked-back hair, imposing physique and presence, the works. He was one of the ones that was at the "trial".

The air was filled with a sound that sounded, by this point, familiar - an ethereal wailing, the sobbing of a poor soul crying her heart out on the wind. But this wasn't Hanyuu...

The man nodded towards a smaller building, about the size of the Saiguiden. As I got closer, the sound got louder.

And then, in a moment of horrific, pure, disgusting realization, I recognized who that voice belonged to.

"Asahina-san!"

I burst through the door (literally - and if any of you make a Kool-Aid Man joke, I'm going to kick your ass) to see a sight that I never wanted to see, and I hoped I never had to see again.

The other Brigade members were arranged around the weeping angel, who had her back to me.

The events that followed happened in a ridiculously short period of time. Like, three seconds, tops. Here's the gist of it.

I started running towards Asahina-san, to console her. The crowd parted slightly, and we made eye contact. That was when she did something that truly confused me; she shrieked, and started backing away from me as fast as she could.

"Stay away from her!"

Before I could even get halfway across the room, I was grabbed and thrown against the wall, and then I was gripped by the neck and held against the wall. Again, this was all in about three seconds.

"S-Suzumiya-san!" said Koizumi.

Haruhi looked like she was going to rip my head off my body with her bare hands. This is the first actual bit of evidence towards Koizumi's ideas; if she was this mad on a normal day, we'd all be dead, no questions asked.

I felt the hands tighten around my windpipe, and Haruhi's nails dug into my skin. Oh my god, she really does want to kill me.

"Why?" I can't remember if I asked that question, or if she did.

I gurgled. What else could I do?

"Suzumiya-san, wait!" said Koizumi. He grabbed her hands in a fruitless attempt to loosen the death grip. "I hate to be the devil's advocate, but I think you should at least let him explain himself."

Haruhi let go with her hands, but not with her eyes. There wasn't any slitting or evidence of demons; just pure, incalculable rage. If looks could kill, I'd be deader than dead.

"Wait, why am I the one who's the devil here? What's going on?" I said.

I noticed that, despite her expression, Haruhi's eyes were glistening. Was she crying? Is that even possible?

"Don't play dumb, Kyon. You know damn well what you did," she said.

"I don't, actually, but being strangled doesn't exactly help the memory." I said.

"Enough of that snarking bullshit, Kyon."

"Okay, fine."

I started heading towards Asahina-san again. She saw me do so and cowered and whimpered. Haruhi grabbed my wrist.

"Get off me!" I said.

"What do you think you're doing?" she shouted.

I managed to get her off of me. I stood in the center of the room and took a second to get my bearings.

Everyone was looking at me, dead quiet. Haruhi was still frothing. Asahina-san looked terrified and confused. Koizumi was actually gaping, and he looked scared. Even Nagato was wide-eyed.

"Look. Something obviously happened. Asahina-san's hurt. I want to help her."

"She doesn't need your 'help'!" shouted Haruhi. "What sort of shit is that?"

I noticed that Koizumi and Nagato were communicating behind Haruhi's back. Or maybe conspiring is the better word?

"Look, I don't want to fight you, Haruhi." I said. The two of us were circling each other like binary stars. "Why are you so pissed?"

It looked like her brain couldn't comprehend what I said.

"What- you know damn well why I'm pissed."

"I don't. The way I see it, I haven't done anything wrong."

Well, I really meant "I haven't done anything that would piss you off", but this conveys the same point.

That quite literally stunned Haruhi. There was a good five seconds of her trying to make sense of what I said. After a bit, she gave up and punched me with full force.

"That's a lie! A goddamn LIE!"

I was caught by Koizumi as I fell. For the first time since I arrived in Hinamizawa, I was bleeding.

"I think he's being honest, Suzumiya-san. He really doesn't know." said Koizumi.

Know what? What don't I know? What's going on?

"Oh, bullshit, you can't do something like _that_ and not remember it!"

That was when Asahina-san moved in a way that showcased her hand, the one that I couldn't see when I came in. The one that was bent and bloodied.

That played my heartstrings like a violin and compelled me to run over to her. This time, Koizumi held Haruhi back.

I pretty much cradled Asahina-san. At first, she flinched and squirmed and cried. After a few seconds, she looked up at me. She looked scared and, above all else, confused.

I reached for her arm, to see what had happened. She pulled away.

"No... don't touch it. Go away..." she said.

"Look, it's okay. I'm here," I said. "What happened?"

"I..."

She tried to turn away from me.

"Don't worry. It's okay, you can tell me what happened."

"But... you don't...?"

"I mean, you can tell me whatever you want, right? I mean, didn't we almost kiss?"

That made her turn towards me, and she gasped. Then she burst into a whole new flood of tears. I decided to cut my losses and let her go. Haruhi pulled my to my feet by my shirt collar.

"Okay, Kyon, what did you do tonight?" she said.

"Do you promise not to punch me in the face if you don't like what I say?" I said.

"Fine."

"Alright, after I came home from the spring, I stayed at home. Keiichi's parents are gone on business, and he went to go get refreshments. That's when Rena came to visit."

"And then what?"

"She tried to force her way in. I told her off, but she didn't listen. I had to slam a door on her hand."

At the mention of that fact, Haruhi balled her fists again, and Asahina-san shuddered violently.

"You slammed a door on Rena's hand. Right?"

"Yes. I'm sure you know my thoughts on her and what she does."

"Well, yes, but..."

Haruhi's tone was slipping out of bottled rage and into, for some reason, disbelief.

"You're completely sure."

"I saw it with my own eyes and I heard it with my own ears. I can show you the blood, if you want."

"That's not necessary."

"So, what happened to Asahina-san?"

Haruhi looked from Koizumi to Asahina-san. There was a long, cold silence. Nobody wanted to meet my gaze.

"She... she got her hand caught in a door."

"Oh."

Two girls, living in the same house, at the same time of day, getting the same kind of wound...

I'd call that a coincidence on a normal day. But now... it's some sort of demonic magic. It has to be. I can easily picture "Rena" using a spell to transfer or replicate her injuries on an unsuspecting and innocent Asahina-san.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Nagato. She looked even worse than she did the last time I saw her. Normally, Nagato either has her head in a book, she stares straight out, or she makes eye contact. But now, I could have sworn that she was trying to avert making eye contact.

"You can go home now," she said.

"Yes, we're done here. Sorry if I was harsh," said Haruhi. Her tone was still disbelieving.

"Actually, I think I'll stick around, make sure that Asahina-san-" I said.

"Go."

"Alright, alright, geez, what did I do?"

I slipped out the hole that I made, but I didn't leave the area. I don't know why I sat down and eavesdropped, but I didn't leave the steps.

"Wow. I mean... you were right, Koizumi," said Haruhi.

"Yes, I know. And him, of all people," said Koizumi.

"Well, he's either more two-faced than Harvey Dent, or he's gone mad. Unless... yes, of course. That makes more sense."

"I would like to know what your idea is, Suzumiya-san, but we can talk about our theories and our plans later. What about..."

"Oh, right, probably should get on that."

After a second, Haruhi opened the door.

"Oh, you're still here," she said.

"Mhmm."

"Mikuru... she has a present for you. She made it after you passed out."

Trying not to look me in the eye, she handed me a small parcel wrapped inside a handkerchief and headed back inside.

Inside was a bento box and a plain white card. I opened the card. It was a drawing and a message.

"Get well soon! - Asahina Mikuru"

The handwriting was impeccable. The drawing was an endearingly childish rendition of a girl and a boy holding hands. There was lots of pink crayon and hearts. She had even dotted her exclamation point with a heart.

One night, and Asahina-san's thought of me went from "sweet loving care" to "scared to death". She's scared of me...

Now, there aren't many times that I cry. But, as I opened the bento box, I could feel a tear roll down my cheek.

Ohagi. She made me ohagi. I don't care for it, but I don't give a damn. And it hadn't even gone cold.

I ate one. It was perfect. It was flawless. It was heaven.

I decided to save the rest of them, in case I needed a reminder of how much Asahina-san cared for me. The fact that I had to put that in the past tense made my heart lurch.

It was dark by the time I made it back to Keiichi's house. I didn't see him. I figured he was asleep.

I entered my room and looked at it, and at the handprint in particular.

What happened? A few days ago, I was doing better than usual. Now, I'm shunned, not only by the people of Hinamizawa, but by my friends and colleagues. At a basic, secular level, I have a creepy chick after me. On a more metaphysical level, I'm pretty sure there's a demon or dark god that wants me dead. And the people who I'd give my life to save from said dark god are scared of me.

I flipped the pillow over and went to sleep.

I don't know what happened, Asahina Mikuru-san, but I will do anything that I can to fix it. I promise.

* * *

That was the last night that I slept. The sensation that somebody was watching over me as I slept was even worse tonight. To make matters worse, I had a horrible nightmare.

It was in Hinamizawa, in the middle of a rain storm. I was in pain and covered in blood. And before me was a girl whose face was obscured by shadows. But I could see her teeth glint in a smile that, surprisingly, looked sincere.

In one of her hands was a bloodstained blade. In the other was the severed head of Asahina Mikuru.

I swore at the girl and tried to kill it, but every one of my attacks was ignored. The figure then struck at me with lightning-fast blows, making more cuts on my body than I could count. Eventually, I collapsed on my knees, exhausted and in incomprehensible pain.

I woke up right before she could deliver the coup de grace. It was still dark out. I stayed awake until the sun rose.

But I felt fine, despite only getting an hour or so of sleep. If it's unnecessary, filled with nightmares, and leaves me vulnerable, it's only reasonable to stop sleeping altogether.

My neck _still_ itched. I rubbed it through the gauze. There's no way that I'm taking this thing off, lest I start disintegrating again.

To my disappointment, the only breakfast I got was toast.

"So what was that?" said Keiichi. He was also eating toast.

"You mean last night? Oh, apparently something happened to Asahina-san."

"Funny you say that. Rena mentioned that she got her hand slammed in a door."

"That's what I heard. Not that Rena didn't deserve it, though."

"I meant that she said Asahina-san got her hand slammed." Keiichi raised an eyebrow at me. "Nothing about Rena getting hurt."

"Oh. Well, that's what happened to the door."

He stopped looking at me.

"It must really hurt to have that happen to a friend." he said. He sounded indignant, almost like he was mocking me.

"Look, if you were in my shoes, you'd have done the same thing," I said.

"No." Keiichi shuddered and closed his eyes. It looked vaguely like he remembered something awful. "I'd never do anything like that to Rena. Not in a thousand years."

Is that denial I hear on the tip of his tongue? I really wonder how much, exactly, this guy has done.

He looked back at me for a second, before getting up.

"I need to pick something up from the school. I'm sure you can handle yourself."

He was out of the room before I could confirm or deny what he said. A few seconds later, I heard the front door open and shut.

After a good while of doing nothing, I decided to take a walk. It was cooler out today than it has been, and less humid. Perfect walking weather. But I kept my scissors in my pocket, just in case.

The walk gave me a lot of time to think about what was going on.

The one thing that I was certain of was that none of it was my fault. Sure, I definitely should have avoided certain people, but a lot of it was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If Takano and Tomitake hadn't dragged me into the Saiguiden, I wouldn't have pretty much the whole town hating me. If they didn't get themselves killed, I wouldn't be stuck here. Then again, if they were alive, I'd probably kick their asses myself.

And then there's Rena. Oh, don't get me wrong, she's disturbing and scary, no doubt, but she seems more like an avatar or a host than a standard nutcase.

I think the main threat or concern to me right now is Oyashiro-sama, or at least the demon that calls itself that that's currently having fun making my life hell. As much as you need to apply Occam's Razor, and go with logical situations, there's some things, like what happened to Asahina-san, that only make sense if magic is a possibility.

Come to think of it, it might not be a demon. I _was_ in the Saiguiden, and that could have pissed off _the_ Oyashiro-sama. But Rika says that Oyashiro-sama isn't that dangerous, or even a threat. But as much as I'd like to trust her, Oyashiro-sama is _evil_.

I heard someone on the road ahead of me. She was shouting with earnest about raiding the Saiguden (don't, really, it'll bite you in the ass, trust me), among other things.

Haruhi.

She wasn't alone, either. When I ran into her, she had Nagato, Asahina-san, and Koizumi with her. In other words the entire SOS Brigade.

With one notable exception.

"Hey," I said.

"Oh, hi," said Haruhi.

I noticed that the jovial air had vanished. Asahina-san had moved to put Nagato between herself and me in a way that was so subtle it was subconscious, and the thought of that being the case made my heart drop.

"What's up?" I said.

"Oh, not much. How are you?"

That tone suggests... unease? Disinterest? ...fear?

"A lot better. I take it you're doing Brigade stuff, right? I'm surprised that you didn't call."

"Oh, well, I thought you'd still be under the weather," she said. I'm calling bullshit on that, seeing as she dragged me off when I was feeling a lot worse.

"Well, mind if I join you guys?"

Alright, I understand that me wanting to go along with Haruhi and her crazy antics might sound out of character. But it's, well, even though the term may seem like an oxymoron, it's _normal._ It'd be a return to what things were before Hinamizawa drove us apart.

They went into a huddle. It seemed like Haruhi and Asahina-san were the main participants. They quickly came to a conclusion.

"Sorry, Kyon, but I don't want to break you," said Haruhi. "It's good to see you up and about, but you're not ready for Brigade rigors. See you later."

They started walking past me. As Asahina-san walked past, I said something to her and her alone.

"I'm sorry."

I didn't see her expression, but I heard her take a short breath.

Of course, that wasn't sincere. I don't know what I'm supposed to be sorry for, but I know that I'm supposed to be sorry. But if it'll make Asahina-san feel better, then it's worth it.

They walked past me, and I walked off.

"Hey, wait up!"

I looked back. Koizumi was running after me.

"I'd like to talk with you a bit," he said.

I let him catch up with me. If at least one person isn't giving me the cold shoulder, I shouldn't give him one, either.

"So, what did you say to Asahina-san?" he asked.

"Oh, I just told her that I was sorry."

He smiled. Well, he's always smiling, but he legitimately smiled for once.

"That's fantastic. So you've finally realized what happened," he said.

"No, I just told her that to make her feel better."

He chuckled, but after a few seconds, he stopped.

"That was sarcasm, right?"

"Unfortunately, no."

He stopped smiling. After a second, he went back to his fake smile.

"That's unfortunate. I hope that Suzumiya-san never finds out that you lied to Asahina-san like that."

"How is she, by the way?"

"Suzumiya-san? In all honesty, she's acting surprisingly rational. More so than usual, in fact. With exceptions, of course."

I'd hesitate to call Haruhi's behavior yesterday anything resembling "rational".

"I think that the way you've been treated and they way you've been acting has sobered her up, so to speak."

"So, basically, she's getting scared and concerned."

"Yes, something like that. So, how are you holding up?"

"Oh, besides that everyone in this town hates me, the medical issues, and my stalker, I'm doing just fine."

"Oh. I'm sorry I missed the opportunity to do something to help you back then."

Yeah, I didn't need two people molesting me in my sleep, thank you.

Koizumi and I eventually came to a bridge. It was big, and it was far above the river below. I'd say it'd be a good place for a dramatic battle, or for someone to fall off of only to be saved at the last moment.

"Although, if I may say so myself, I feel like I have done enough to help out all of us. I've been talking with Rika, and the two of us managed to have a chat with Kimiyoshi-san and Mion yesterday."

"Talking about what?"

"Well, talking about what has to be done to let the SOS Brigade leave. I suppose you'd call it diplomacy."

Something tells me that those talks went nowhere. It doesn't seem like they'd bother going against what the matriarch wanted.

"Oh, in fact, the talks actually were fruitful. I've managed to come up with a solution that would leave most of us unharmed."

I stopped. He kept walking.

"What do you mean by 'most of us'?"

"Oh, I thought you might react that way. I guess you can say that I..."

He turned back towards me.

"...sold out, so to speak."

Oh, son of a bitch.

Koizumi's pupils were slitted.

"I haven't done anything wrong. Neither has anyone else in the SOS Brigade. Besides you."

"Okay, hold on," I said, backing away, "you can't mean what you're saying. You can't be buying that bullshit, right?"

"I am. Fortunately, once I deal with you, we can go home. What's more, Suzumiya-san might not even realize that you've died, so, once she regains her power, you'll be revived."

I'd like to keep living now, thank you very much. Oh, screw it, I'm just going to run now.

I only took three steps before I heard a sound that sounded quite like a gun cocking. You know, when I said that the bridge would be good for a battle, I was kidding.

"There's only the facts, Kyon. You broke into the Saiguiden, and they won't accept anything less. Some sacrifices have to be made."

Well, I'm not going to be sacrificed. No way, no how.

I started slowly backing towards Koizumi. I couldn't grab the scissors, but here, I didn't need them.

"You know Haruhi would kill you even if both of us did make it out alive, right?" I said.

"Both of us?" He laughed. I haven't heard Koizumi do an evil laugh before. It was dispassionate and almost chilling. "That's an odd choice of words. It almost sounds like you're implying that you could hurt me as much as I could hurt you."

"Shut up. I'm not sure you're even Koizumi."

"Of course I am. Now, just stand still for a second. This will be over in a few seconds."

He was right.

That was the exact moment I turned around, and I did something that, deep in my mind, I had always wanted to do.

* * *

The rocks at the bottom snapped his neck.

I decided that just leaving him down there as he was would be way to suspicious. People already have their eyes on me, and I _really_ don't want Haruhi to know that he's dead. Fortunately, there was a way down to the riverbed.

There was an old car seat down there that he partially landed on. Because of that, he was less of a splat than he could have been.

There actually wasn't that much blood. Well, not until I started removing his face.

I didn't cut it off with my scissors. That'd just be weird, me having a Koizumi "mask" and having the expression separate from him as a whole. I just used a rock to literally rub the smile off his face. Then again, I also rubbed away the rest of his face, too.

I used the scissors to remove any notable features from his body. I buried the fingertips, scattered the teeth into the pebbles of the riverbed, and I scattered the hair and clothes scraps to the wind.

I washed the blood from my hands and I sent the S-grade John Doe down the river. Sure the cops will be able to identify him as a Japanese teenager, but there isn't any information on him in this timeline, nor does he have next of kin.

I climbed up and started heading to my next task; calling Haruhi.

I managed to find a pay phone. It was a booth; Clark Kent would definitely change in this booth if Superman was in Hinamizawa. I slipped inside, got out some change from the slot, and I dialed the Sonozaki estate.

As the phone rang, I noticed that there was a weird sort of "presence" in the booth. Had someone died in here or something? That's what it feels like.

"Hello?" said Haruhi.

"Hey, it's me." I said.

"Oh. What's up?"

"Just wanted you to know that Koizumi left."

"Left? Why? I'm surprised that he'd violate Brigade protocol so badly."

"Well, someone came by and told him his brother got hit by a car."

"...he has a brother?"

"I know, I just learned, like, ten minutes ago."

"So, when will he be back?"

"Well, odds are, he won't be back to Hinamizawa. If I were you, I'd just wait until we got home and then meet him at school."

"Ah. You know, that all sounds kinda fishy. You know, the two of you leaving and then you calling me to tell him he won't be around anymore."

"Well, I'm being honest with you."

"You sure? You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No, of course not." Thank god that this call is audio-only, because my expression would give me away instantly.

"Good, because if you did, I'd have to blind you. An eye and an eye, meaning both eyes, meaning complete blinding."

"Um, I'm pretty sure it's an eye **for** an eye."

"Oh. Well, if that's the case, I'd have to kill you, then. If you killed Koizumi, that is."

Don't say that. I really would rather not have you, of all people, trying to kill me.

"Hold on, I think that Sonozaki-"

The call suddenly ended. I stood there in confusion for a second. What just happened on the other end could have been something horrible, or it could have just been mechanical failure. I chalked it up to the latter and headed back to Keiichi's place.

Before I left, though, I did a quick check on my appearance in the reflection from the booth. I was clean enough.

I took a second to appraise my mental cleanliness as well. I was thorough, so I won't be caught. Besides, he was going to shoot me. I didn't actually kill him, that was the rocks at the bottom of the river. And if we ever get back, he will be revived by Haruhi, because she thinks he's alive.

So, my conscience is pretty damn clear.

Keiichi was sitting on the couch and watching TV when I finally got back home.

"Oh, there you are. How long were you gone?" he said.

"I don't know. I don't have a watch."

He sniffed the air.

"Why do you smell like blood?"

"I do?"

Crap, I didn't take into account what I smelled like.

"Yeah, you smell like a crime scene." said Keiichi.

I didn't question how he knew what a crime scene smelled like, and I went and I took a bath. I caught him giving me a dirty look as I slipped away.

The bath felt a lot more cleansing than the river did.

The night passed without incident. I guess even demons need to sleep sometimes.

It was going to be the fourth day of insanity, bloodshed, violence, et cetera. It still gets worse.

It was the first day that I was the sinner, that the events were my fault.

* * *

I took another walk.

Yes, I _could_ stay in Keiichi's house, not coming out of my room for anyone or anything. How do you think I spent my morning? But that's too close to paranoia for my liking. Besides, knowing Rena, if I locked myself in my room, she'd still end up in there, billhook in hand. At least I can run like hell on the open roads.

Today was hot and humid, and oddly devoid of the sounds of insects. It was unpleasant and a perfect fit for Hinamizawa.

I didn't have a destination. I just walked. I walked, and I thought.

Yesterday was, well... it was fucked up. It took me a bit after I woke up before it really hit me that Koizumi was dead and wasn't- no, he could, assuming that Haruhi never found out.

I'm going to guess that the slitted eyes and ominous monotone means that someone isn't himself or herself. Without them, Rena is only mildly creepy, and I know that Koizumi isn't normally one to accuse or boast.

They're possessed. That's it. Possessed by Oyashiro-sama.

Of course, they aren't without flaws. Rena still is unsettling even without the possession or the billhook. And Koizumi, well, he's Koizumi. But while he's an idiot and obnoxious, he's not the sort who would do anything to piss off Haruhi. And trust me, killing me would _really_ piss off Haruhi.

I have to wonder, though: if he _did_ kill me, what would he have done? Would he have made the same call that I made to Haruhi, telling her that my sister was hit by a car?

Wait, why am I still thinking about him? He's dead, and he's in the past. I have done nothing to be blamed or accused of, so I should just erase his face from my mind's eye like I did in the real world.

Something snapped me out of my thoughts. It was a footstep, behind me.

At least this one had a source.

It was Haruhi.

I almost said "Hey", but then I realized that something was _very_ wrong.

For one, she was alone. She was walking slowly, staring ahead with dead eyes. She didn't even seem to notice me.

"Haruhi?" I said. That got her to stop. She didn't even look at me.

"Oh, hello, Kyon."

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, I just messed up, that's all. I got too involved."

Okay, this is really goddamn scary. Haruhi, if this is a prank or anything, cut it out, _now_. Please.

"Oh, you should get packing. We're leaving tomorrow."

Talk about changing gears without pushing in the clutch. What happened?

"So, see you then," said Haruhi.

She walked off. That was when I got a good look at her backside.

Or lack thereof.

Her back was _gone._ Not gone, as it being invisible, but torn-away-with-a-giant-razorblade **gone**.

I could see her spine. I could see the back of her ribcage. I saw her guts and her blood and I couldn't look at it anymore. I had to stabilize myself against a tree, and I threw up in my mouth.

That certainly explains the mood she was in. Holy shit, how is she not dead? I mean, I know that there's no vital organs in the back, but that's a lot more than a pound of flesh taken off. I'd have to guess that her powers are manifesting just enough to keep her from dying from that... well, from _that._

I think I know who caused this, though.

The Sonozaki family. They were right by her when I lost contact with her, and now she's walking around with her organs on parade.

This is too far. I don't give a damn about being killed or worse. I'm calling the police on the family. Hell, on Rena, too. On everyone in Hinamizawa.

I started running. I didn't run the way I came. I don't want to make the call from Keiichi's house. Keiichi is Mion's friend, and he'd probably side with her. Besides, I'm pretty sure wiretapping exists, and the Maebara household being wiretapped wouldn't surprise me.

I ran. There was a cocktail of feelings, of hope and disgust and fear and exhilaration. Finally, I had the chance to get rid of-

What was that?

I skidded to a halt. I swore that I had seen something on the road beside me.

Something... red.

I looked behind me. surprise, surprise, it was Rena, standing on the road behind me, billhook in hand.

"Hey, Kyon-kun! Wait up!"

She seems innocent enough... for the time being. The moment, the exact instant, she tries anything, I'm running like hell. I'll keep one hand on the scissors, just in case.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

As she walked up to me, I looked at her hands. Spotless. Not a mark or bandage on them. It didn't look at all like she got a hand slammed in a door.

"I really need to make a phone call. I'm pretty sure a pay phone is this way."

"Oh? Well, why doesn't Kyon go back to Keiichi's house?"

"I'm pretty sure that a pay phone would be closer. Besides, I'm pretty sure his house is this way, anyway."

"No, it's not. It's that way."

She pointed past me.

"So it is," I said.

"Keiichi's house isn't that far."

"Well, okay. See you."

I started walking in that direction. I heard Rena walk behind me.

I stopped. She stopped. I started walking again. So did she.

"Stop that," I said.

I stopped. She stopped again.

"Stop what?"

"Stop following me."

"I'm not following you."

"Then where are you going?"

"Rena is off to go get treasure."

"I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

I turned back to her. She actually looked confused. The billhook aside, she seemed innocent for once.

"Look, you might not have noticed, but you're creeping me out. I'm not actually making a phone call, okay? I'm going to the police, and I'm getting a restraining order against you. I'm going to tell them everything that you did."

That wasn't true, but it was a great idea.

She looked down, her hair falling into her eyes. She chuckled.

"Okay. Forbid me from going near you. I don't mind. Rena can just go to Mikuru-chan, and we can have so much-"

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!"

I pulled the scissors from my pocket, and before she could retaliate, I struck.

Now, let's make this clear. I didn't kill Rena. I quite clearly remember hearing the billhook clatter to the ground, and seeing her run off.

_I'm sorry. _

Actually, I should be running, too. I'd get busted for assault anyway.

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

But I won. I mean, every other time, it wasn't right. It always felt, vaguely, that what I was doing wasn't right. But this time... I _won._ It took most of my restraint to resist saying "take that, you creepy bitch!".

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

When I got to Keiichi's house, the door was unlocked and open. And, thankfully, empty. It didn't seem like it was ransacked. I'd guess that Keiichi just had to leave in a hurry.

_...I'm sorry._

I cleaned myself off, hid the clothes, and took another bath. Keiichi still wasn't back after I finished.

It wasn't the perfect crime, not by a long shot. But I have an ally on the police force (of sorts), I have evidence to back me up against Hinamizawa, and if all that fails, I technically don't exist yet, which is always helpful in fugitive situations.

Eventually, as usual, I sat on the couch and watched TV. Nothing interesting. Nothing, that is, until the evening news came on.

The headline that caught my eye was "Girl Stabbed in Hinamizawa". It was the second-to-last headline in the opening crawl, and it took about fifteen minutes before the actual story went on air.

"A young girl in Hinamizawa was sent to the hospital today after being brutally attacked. Ryuugu Rena was hospitalized after she was stabbed several times while walking down a country road. She managed to make her way to a friend's house afterwards before passing out. She is currently in critical condition."

To any of you who might be thinking that I was lying about not killing her, there's your proof that I'm telling the truth.

As the story proceeded into the field, with the reporter going on about Hinamizawa, and things I already knew, it hit me. I probably pissed Hinamizawa off majorly. I'm going to get slaughtered.

They cut to Rena. She was lying in a hospital bed, bandaged, bloodied, and with her eyes clothes. She was surrounded by, well, practically everyone in Hinamizawa. Keiichi, Mion, Satoko, and Rika were right beside her, crying and holding her hand.

Even though the clip was only about three seconds, I saw Rika look away from Rena and directly at the camera. I know it was a coincidence, but it felt like she was looking right at me.

_I'm sorry._

"The assailant is still at large," said the reporter. "But the one thing that the people of Hinamizawa do know is that it wasn't a native."

They cut to the reporter talking with Mion. There wasn't any of that friendly Mion that I've met. That girl was nothing but a cold, scorned Yakuza princess.

"Nobody that is from this town would ever do something like that, especially to Rena. I promise that the man who did this will pay twice over for what he did to Rena."

The reporter asked if she knew who the culprit was. Her reply was a very curt "Yes."

"Who is it?" asked the reporter.

"We know who he is, and he knows who he is. Nobody else needs to know."

"In that case, would you mind stating your opinion on the rumors that the Sonozaki family is keeping the police-"

The rest of the question was cut off by the sound of the door slamming open.

Keiichi was back, and his expression was complete rage, barely held in. The anger that was leagues above unlike any other (and that includes Haruhi's reaction from a few days ago) combined with the fact that he was holding a well-used baseball bat in his hand firmly reminded me that there were still plenty of psychopaths in Hinamizawa.

"**What. Did. You. Do."**

Alright, let's try our best to not be paralyzed with terror and get through this alive. Let's try the nonchalant way first.

"Just watching TV, that's all."

"That's not what I meant," said Keiichi. "What did you do to Rena?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw that she was attacked. How is she?"

"She's _dead_, you bastard!"

"Oh, is she? Huh. Must've died in the hospital, then."

"You killed her." That wasn't even an inquiry. That was just a flat out accusation.

"Look, if I didn't do anything, she would have killed Asahina-san. She had to be-"

"Get out."

"What, you're kicking me out?"

"**Get. Out.**"

"You're not just going to bludgeon me?"

He... he smiled. It was a psychotic, cracked-glass grin. Actually, leaving this house and never coming back doesn't sound so bad.

"No. I'm going to let Mion and her family hunt you down. I'm going to watch them give you everything that you deserve."

I started to get off the couch.

"Well, if you were in my shoes, you'd have done the same thing."

That was probably what pushed him over the edge.

He screamed. It was a bestial, berserker scream. He swung at me. I barely managed to roll out of the way.

"What, so _now_ you try to kill me?" I asked, again pretty much involuntarily.

He swung again. The club smashed into the TV, disabling it in a cloud of sparks and glass. If this was either a cartoon or an action movie, that would have sent a shock up the bat, stunning him. As it was, though, it just gave me a split second of time to run.

I used it. I barely managed to get out the door, shutting it in his face. I heard the intensely loud sound of bat on door behind me.

And that is the story of how I was evicted from the Maebara house, with nothing but the scissors in my pocket and the clothes on my back.

After the adrenaline rush that came with almost having my brains painted across a wall wore off, I thought of where I could go and where I could stay.

I walked just off the side of the road, avoiding streetlights and light in general. The nearly-full moon didn't help in that manner.

Eventually, I got to the junkyard. It was quiet and abandoned; in other words, good enough. It's not like there's anywhere else I could go that's not either in enemy territory or that requires money.

There was an abandoned van half-buried in the center of the junkyard. I laid on the roof and gazed up at the stars. For a second, I was so amazed at how many there were and how beautiful they are.

My wonder turned into thought. I'm sure that there's a lot of people who are out there, looking at the stars, wondering if there's intelligent life out there. I have it on good authority that there is. Thing is, it doesn't give a damn about here, or our planet.

It's worse knowing that life is out there, and it doesn't care, than it is not knowing. Especially when it should be noticing a girl who pretty much needs it to live. I feel like writing a big message to it signaling that it should look this way.

I am here. Help me.


	4. Chapter 4: Retribution

**The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya: Tsukuribanashi-hen**

**Chapter Four: Retribution**

* * *

_I asked the oracle what I should do._

_She told me that the gods were helpless. She couldn't help me._

_I asked the prophet what I should do._

_She told me that her god was gone. She couldn't help me._

_I did what I thought was right_

_And I did the wrong thing._

_..._

_That's not one of my poems._

_Someone else wrote it. They tried to make it sound like I did._

_I know what the poem is about._

_It's about a man who hurts everyone he cares about, and he doesn't know that he is._

_It's one of my favorite stories._

_I laugh every time I read it._

_Nobody could be that _stupid_._

_Giggle giggle..._

Fredrica Bernkastel

* * *

"This is the Okinomiya Police Department. How may I help you?"

I was giving an update to Ooishi. Even though I had to make it from a phone booth, with barely any money to use, I figure he should be kept up to date with everything that's going on, especially with such a "milestone" as Rena's death.

"May I speak to Detective Ooishi?"

"Who is this?"

"This is Kyon."

Silence. Then...

"Hello, Kyon." said Ooishi. "Are you giving me an update?

I told him about just about everything that's happened. Of course, I phrased certain things in certain ways. I told him that I defended myself against Rena, for example, and I completely glossed over Koizumi.

"Interesting. Very interesting... you defended yourself against Rena, and a few hours later, she dies of stab wounds. How did you defend yourself, anyway?"

"Oh, pretty well. I'm okay."

Ooishi grunted. I heard a lighter flick on the other side of the phone.

"Well, we've been investigating Rena's death to the best of our ability. With all the press coverage, we pretty much have to. It's going quite well, I say."

"Is it?"

"Yes. Ryuugu Rena died after being stabbed, oh..." There was a rustling of paper. "...ten times. Let's see, four in the chest, two in the abdomen, one in the right thigh, and three in the neck. Punctured the right lung and the intestines. She died in her hospital bed, but forensics still has to determine whether blood poisoning, the lung injury, blood loss, shock, or some other thing was the exact cause."

"So, you have the body?"

"Well, no. The town wants to have a funeral for her before anything else happens. They've pretty much doomed any hope of a useful autopsy."

"Yeah, I heard on the news that there's rumors of them interfering with the investigation."

"Well, fortunately, we have enough evidence to move in on who we think the killer is."

"Really? What sort of evidence?"

"Well, the killer was right-handed, and a bit taller than she was. We've taken shoe prints from the scene in plaster, and they're of an unknown brand. She was stabbed with a sharp instrument. Not a knife or a sword. We're guessing that it was with a pair of scissors. And then there's the testimonies..."

Wow, and I was thinking that the police were going to be useless.

"Of course, if we make an arrest, that would aggravate Hinamizawa, and we're trying to avoid that," said Ooishi. Even if the attacker turned himself in - something which I condone, by the way - the Sonozaki family would still try to do the deed themselves. Hell, I wouldn't be suprised if they broke into the jail to break the murderer out so they can deal with them. themselves."

"So, the police are effectively canceled out by the sheer force of will that Hinamizawa has?" I asked.

"Well..."

I saw a familiar car drive by slowly. Ooishi was inside, talking on an old-fashioned (but probably contemporary, come to think of it) car phone. He waved at me.

"Not exactly, but a lot of force is going into keeping them away from the man who killed Rena."

"So _you_ can bring him to justice."

"Well, personally, we're getting closer than ever to taking down the Sonozaki family. They've done much worse than killing a girl."

"I totally understand what you mean."

I thought back to Haruhi, and her back. At least Rena died quietly. I think.

"So, I heard that you got kicked out of your house," said Ooishi.

Holy crap, news travels fast. Is this guy a quest-giver or something?

"Good thing, too. His neighbors called us in about two hours after Rena died. It looks like he had smashed the TV in, and he was saying quite a few interesting things. Mostly about you."

"Really?"

"He was raving about how you were a time-traveler, and that you knew more than you could, and he fiercely denied that he would ever kill Rena. We had to call in Irie-sensei to sedate him. He's currently en route to a mental hospital in Nagoya."

I saw someone coming down the road.

It was Haruhi. In a very refreshing change of pace from yesterday, she was at a full sprint."

"I gotta go," I said, and I hung up.

As I got out of the phone booth, Haruhi literally skidded to a stop, and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Kyon! You gotta see this!"

* * *

Once again, I'm being dragged along by Haruhi off to some adventure or other. In every other case, I'd be grumbling all the way. But this time, I'm actually enjoying it a bit. It's a return to what we had before Hinamizawa.

"So, what's this you're showing me?" I asked.

"It's a secret! I don't want to spoil it for you."

Sounds interesting. Unless the secret happens to be a bullet that you lodge in my chest. That's not so interesting, and in fact would be fucking terrifying, out of nowhere, and it wouldn't surprise me at this point.

"So, how are things on your end?" I asked.

"Not good at all. I have to get all my stuff and leave the Sonozaki estate in twelve hours. All of us have to leave Hinamizawa in twenty-four hours and we can't be in Okinomiya after forty-eight. That's what Sonozaki Oryou said, anyway."

"She's actually spoken to you? Outside of the trial?"

"Yeah, she has, every so often..."

After a second, she turned back to me.

"Weren't you wearing that yesterday?"

"Yeah. I got kicked out, without getting a chance to change my clothes."

"What, by Keiichi?"

"Yeah."

"Ahh. I heard that he went nuts."

I nodded. "I think that the eviction and the going crazy were the same thing."

Actually, sad thing is, he's probably perfectly sane, that everything he said was true, and that he's currently taking up the Cassandra role of the story.

"You know, I'm surprised you're in such a good mood," I said.

"Well, even though we're being kicked out, as a leader, I feel like I'm obligated to stay in a good mood so that everyone else doesn't get depressed or worried."

Yes, worried was a decent summation of how I was feeling yesterday when I saw you acting freakishly quiet yesterday.

Anyway, might as well get the elephant in the room out of the way.

"So, how's your back?" I asked? I couldn't tell visually, because she had changed her shirt (although you'd think it'd be sticking... then again, she probably got medical attention, seeing as she isn't, well, _dead_).

"What about it?"

"Well, is it feeling better?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Haruhi, I saw full well what they did, and you can't hide it."

"Kyon, I know this seems ironic given how I reacted a few days ago, but I have no idea what you mean."

I... I don't blame her. I'd repress that memory too, in a heartbeat. Must have been painful beyond belief.

I decided to poke the hornet's nest, in an almost literal sense. I did so by tapping Haruhi somewhat firmly in the center of her back. Not on any of her organs, mind you, just on her spine.

Her reaction was instant. She froze, flinched, and gasped.

"My... my back..."

She started breathing really heavily, and she was shivering. She even doubled over slightly and hugged herself.

"Haruhi?"

After a good twenty seconds of hyperventilation and what I can probably assume are awful flashbacks, she straightened up.

"Can we... not talk about it? Ever?" she said. Her voice was weak.

"Of course."

We started walking again.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I admit, I thought I was going to die, yesterday, after the Sonozaki family... they did things, and you brought me back there. But... I lived through it. The scars will heal. Life goes on."

"That's good." I said.

"Either way... Kyon..."

"Yes?"

"You're an asshole for doing that. Never do that, or anything like that, again. Got it?"

"Yes, of course."

We walked for a bit more, before Haruhi suddenly froze and snapped her fingers.

"Oh! That reminds me."

She turned around and grabbed me by the collar. If she gets any more mercurial, we're going to have to strap wings to her feet and write "Hg" on her forehead.

"When we get back home, you are going to be the SOS Brigade's official butler for life! You will have to be courteous to all Brigade members, follow my every order without complaint or hesitation, and you'll have to call me Suzumiya-sama."

"Okay, first off, with an exception, I do that anyway. Second, why?"

Haruhi rolled her eyes at me.

"Let's see," said Haruhi, "there's what you did a minute ago, you got Asahina kicked out - and then some, we're all being forced out, compromising the security of the SOS Brigade, and you attacked Rena. Fatally, if I recall correctly. Need I go on?"

"Look, she was a psycho bitch," I said.

"Well, she seemed nice enough. Definitely too nice to murder."

"To you, maybe."

Silence.

"Besides, she was going to hurt Asahina-san if I didn't do anything." I said.

Haruhi only responded by furrowing her brow, frowning, and crossing her arms.

"Well, you'd have to wear a suit, anyway. That'd be new."

Eventually, we reached the edge of the river-formed canyon, and Haruhi started making her way to the bottom.

"It's down there?" I asked.

"Sure is. Found it this morning."

I followed her down. Nagato and Asahina-san were down there. They were standing by a tarp with something obviously under it.

"So, Kyon, the three lovely ladies of the SOS Brigade would like to present to you..."

Haruhi gestured. Nagato and Asahina-san grabbed the corners of the tarp.

"Da-da-da-daah!"

The tarp was removed and - _oh fuck me._

"A dead body!"

It was a broken, discolored corpse. Male, probably a teenager. His head was hanging at an unnatural angle. From what I could tell, he was missing a good part of his face.

Sound familiar?

I decided to, instead of swearing out loud or running or any noticeable revelation as to the identity to the body, I decided to cross my arms and do what a lot of people say I do best.

"So, you have this cheery little ceremony because you found a dead body? A bit macabre, don't you think?"

"Well, how would you have done it?"

"If I was getting you to come see a dead body I found," ignoring the fact that she's the last person I want dicking around at a crime scene, "I'd just find you and say 'hey, I found a dead body'."

"Well, that's boring. You gotta do it with style."

She turned to the girls and smiled.

"Alright, now it's time for the SOS Brigade to become forensic investigators!"

Yup, now that I thought about it, she was in fact wearing an armband that said "Forensic Investigator".

"Okay, first thing we should do is determine the time of death," said Haruhi. That means we should check the body temperature, and look for rigor, algor, and livor mortis. Also look for maggots, we can use those as well."

"I'm surprised that you know all this forensic jargon, Haruhi." I said.

"Well, I heard that North High had a CSI club, and I was bored one night, so I read a forensics textbook."

"One, North High never had and doesn't have a CSI club or any sort of forensic program. Two, you read a textbook for fun?"

"Yeah, well, it was more interesting than a biology textbook, that's for sure."

Honestly, I can't even picture Nagato reading a textbook for fun. She usually reads mysterious and incomprehensible science fiction stories, anyway. (Might have something to do with the fact that she is pretty much straight out of a mysterious and incomprehensible science fiction story herself.)

"Anyway, I was really annoyed when I found out that North High didn't have anything like that, but I guess the info came in handy, now, hasn't it? Anyway, flip this body over, why don't you."

We flipped the body over. His limbs flopped awkwardly.

"Look, Haruhi, this is disgusting. Can I go, please?" I asked.

"No, no, no. I need an assistant for this investigation. I think that Yuki might have, I don't know, some sort of bug, and Mikuru's still traumatized from two days ago, I'd guess."

"It's just, well... I don't want to get sick. I don't want corpse... -itis. Corpse-itis. Or whatever you get."

"Well, probably some water-spread disease or fecal thing. Cholera or dysentery or some kind of Oregon Trail disease. Oh! Completely forgot."

A second later, a pair of rubber gloves hit me in the face.

Haruhi handed out gloves to everyone else. She then out-and-out straddled the body and poked at his face.

"Holy crap, there's nothing here. No teeth, no eyes... someone's turned this guy's face into soup."

I noticed that Nagato was actually assisting a bit. She was looking at the corpse's hand, lifting it, running her fingers over the stumps. Haruhi noticed this as well.

"Wow, someone took his fingertips off. I guess whoever wanted this guy dead didn't want anyone else knowing that he's... hm."

She started looking at the corpse's notable features with renewed vigor. Nagato walked up to me. I felt her fingers run over my hands, my pockets, the scissors within.

"No..."

She turned away from me. Oh, god. She knows. She knows.

"I'm sorry..." I felt myself say, hopefully too quiet for anyone to hear.

_I'm sorry._

Nagato went up to Asahina-san. I couldn't hear what exactly was said, but Asahina-san's expression more than made up for it. It was terror, nausea, and panic. I had really, sincerely hoped that she would never make that face at me again. I already had my heart torn out once by her making an expression like that at me.

Asahina-san started to go pale, tremble, and her balance was vanishing. Even Haruhi stopped her corpse defilement for a second and looked up at her.

"Mikuru, if you feel ill, go ahead and stand back a bit."

Asahina-san swooned, a greenish tinge came to her face, and...

"There she blows..." said Haruhi. She pulled out a stopwatch and paused it. "That was... from discovery until now, ten minutes and eight seconds. Interesting. More than I thought."

"What, you were timing how long it would take until Asahina-san vomited?"

On that note, Asahina-san threw up again.

That was an image that, at the moment the technology became available, I would rid from my memory forever. It's the complete antithecal expression of Asahina-san. It'd be like seeing Haruhi, completely broken, hugging herself for comfort because- wait, that's already happened. At least Nagato is acting... well, she's not going too far from who she is, at least.

"Well, I know that I have the composure to keep from spewing, and I'm not even sure if Nagato has ever puked once in her life."

Asahina-san started to wobble. Haruhi got off the body, and she caught Asahina-san before she could faint and hit her head on a nearby rock.

"Look, I think we're done here," I said. "If you keep going over the body, the cops will think that you were the murderer. The killer obviously knew what he was doing, so I fail to see what we can find out from this corpse."

"Well, there's more that we can get from it - DNA, striae, that sort of thing - but we can't use that here and now," said Haruhi. She took out what looked like a film canister and scooped some of the face goop into it. "Now, what to do with the body..."

"Throw it into the river and run like hell?"

"Well, that doesn't sound bad, but we probably should..."

She trailed off as she realized that the others were either too sick or too Nagato to give any feedback.

"Yeah, sounds good. Help me with the tarp."

Me and Haruhi each grabbed a side. The two of us heaved the body into the river with a splash. It floated about ten meters before washing up on the shore of the river.

"So, yeah, second part of that plan is now go," said Haruhi.

Instead of the short-but-steep way we took down, we took a longer, but less steep path up. Asahina-san was being carried up in the arms of Haruhi.

Yeah, I could have carried her, but there was no point of asking. Considering that she's reacted with fear at pretty much everything I've done, she'd probably have a heart attack if she woke up in my arms. I think that the best thing I could do for her is leave her be.

That left one last option.

"Hey, Nagato," I said.

"..." said Nagato.

"Um, what's the address of the hotel you're staying at?"

She stopped and looked at me. Her eyes basically said "Why?".

"I... I need to talk to you."

* * *

Nagato was staying at a hotel in Okinomiya. It was a pretty simple hotel, with an external staircase. I'd say it was four stories tall, give or take - not a skyscraper, but high enough to really ruin your day if you fell of the roof.

I went up to the room that she said she was staying at and knocked on the door. She answered it.

"Come in."

I entered and she shut the door behind me. It was an unremarkable one-bed hotel room. The only thing that stood out was the absolute lack of noise. No outside ambiance, no air conditioner, nothing. Just the sounds of our footsteps.

Nagato sat down on the bed. That was when it really hit me how badly off Nagato was. She was at least ten pounds skinnier, and she looked like she could pass for anemic. Her hair was unkempt and her clothes were mussed. I had the feeling that Nagato was mere minutes from wasting away into oblivion.

I took a seat in the only chair in the room.

"So, how are you?" I asked.

"..."

It took her a whole two minutes before she responded.

"Unwell."

"Oh."

"Various processes, both physical and mental, are starting to fail. Previously autonomous functions are now manual. Certain mental processes are running unchecked by previous programmed and biological safeguards."

"Like what?"

"Today, there was a mental process that ran directly in opposition to the basic survival instinct. It was that the thought of self-destruction would be enjoyable."

"You... you wanted to _kill yourself_?"

"...yes. I believe that would be the easiest way to convey that mental process."

I was unnerved. Wholly unnerved. "Nagato, please, don't do that. I... don't think that I could live if you killed yourself. That might just push me over the edge and into madness."

Nagato sighed. "Yes, that would be a consequence."

She looked at me. Her eyes seemed dull. Normally, they have a certain shine to them. Not today.

"So, you wished to talk to me. Why?"

I realized that there was a distinct unnerving quality to her voice. It was... as odd as it sounds, it's not monotone enough. It's gone from "HAL 9000's sister" to "psychologically traumatized girl". It's just human enough to be creepy as hell.

"I... I want to confess."

"..."

I told Nagato everything. I told her about Rena. And about Koizumi. I didn't miss a single detail. I even told her about what Rika said to me, and about what I could figure out about Hanyuu. Every remark, every revelation, Nagato reacted the same.

"..."

But there was a subtle change. Her shoulders had slackened a fraction of a percent. Her eyes were different in some unexplicable way. Her mouth had a slight curve to it.

I think I ended up confessing for the better part of an hour. I ended with a rather simple phrase.

"Yes, I've done a lot of bad things. You don't hate me for doing so, right?"

She didn't respond. She did, however, pour a cup of tea for me and one for herself.

"Please don't hate me, okay?"

More of that unnatural silence.

"All of your reported actions are reasonable responses to your situations," she said, after what felt like an hour.

"Well, can you do anything to help me?" I asked.

"I shall devote all of my capabilities to assisting you."

"Thanks, you're-"

"However, currently, that is approximately synonymous with no help at all."

"So you _can't_ help me."

"The lack of the Integrated Data Thought Entity has affected me to a greater extent than I have predicted. There is only one function that I can perform that is beyond the capabilities of a normal human, but it is selfish and of no help to you."

So, this was fruitless. But I wasn't expecting much, anyway. I'm a bit disappointed, sure, but if I was in Nagato's shoes, I'd probably react the same way.

Even as I finished off my tea, she never touched hers. She simply looked into it, like she was trying to predict the future with it. As I stood up to set my teacup down on a surface, she finally spoke again.

"Why?"

One word shouldn't have shaken me that hard.

"Why what?" I asked.

"Your actions may seem rational to you, but I would advise reassessing your motives. I am asking you so I can see how you answer: why did you kill them?"

"Uh, self-defense," I said. "They tried to kill me, so I defended myself in kind."

"You had said that you attacked Rena after she threatened Asahina-san."

Nagato shifted slightly and looked back at me.

"Regardless, your actions have had consequences. By my estimates, only .27 percent of people in Hinamizawa have no animosity towards you."

"That number doesn't help at all."

"Out of everyone in Hinamizawa, only three people do not hate you to any degree."

"So, the entire town, besides the SOS-"

"That is not the case. There is one person native to Hinamizawa who does not hate you."

That implies that a member of the SOS Brigade that hates me. I destroyed that thought the moment it entered my brain.

I then had a sudden flash of inspiration. I know who she meant. I knew who could help me. She could help me a hell of a lot more than Nagato could.

"Thanks for that fact," I said. "You've helped me out more than you probably thought you could."

"Good." Nagato looked back into her tea.

I started to get up.

"Before you go, I have decided that I should let you know one thing," said Nagato.

"What is it?"

"It..." She looked down at her tea. "I had previously archived a backup software operating system. It is a remnant of previous erratic activity. It has, to my knowlege, no recollection of any events that have happened here, no recollection of the SOS Brigade, or you, and... and is completely, fully human."

She looked back up at me.

"If necessary, I can overwrite my current operating system with the backup system. It is irreversible. As I have said, it is self-destructive, and of no help to anyone but myself - who would not be considered the same person by most individuals."

"Well, why do you tell me this?" I asked.

"At 0600 hours tomorrow, the Nagato Yuki you have known will not exist. I will have deleted this current operating system and have replaced it."

"So..." It took me a while to think of how to respond to what she had said. "You're killing yourself, or what makes you who you are."

"I am replacing software so I can properly manage my system and reduce the possibility of hardware failure."

"Nagato, look, it's not like switching from Windows to Linux. You're destroying yourself and replacing you with someone else."

"It is the only way to survive."

"...no. No, I'm not going to let you do this. Nagato, I'm ordering you to never even consider that possibility again."

She looked surprised for a second. She looked back at me for a minute.

"...I'm sorry, but I will have to refuse."

"...what? Nagato, please, you can't do this. If you're going to go through with this, you might as well just jump out the window and let yourself splatter on the ground. It's essentially the same thing."

"Conditions have changed to the point where it would be both recommended and preferred for the change to occur."

"Nagato... Yuki. Please."

She gasped. She set her tea down and looked at me. She was genuinely surprised. It was like I was looking at an alternate Nagato.

An alternate Yuki... Oh. That explains how she had a backup persona on hand. It's a leftover from when she tried to rewrite the world so that she was an ordinary human girl. In that case, she changed everyone but me so that I could have a world that she wanted, so that she could have a life that she wanted with me. I guess now, she's changing herself so she can have a life... period.

"...I'm sorry," said Nagato. "What has been done has been done. I cannot reverse the process. And... and the status quo has changed to the point where existence as it has been is impossible. I am starting a new life."

She walked over to the nightstand and picked up a pair of glasses that I hadn't noticed. Silently, and with a second of hesitation, she put them on. She sat back down and looked back at me. I hadn't seen her wear glasses in ages, and despite all the humanistic traits she has, she's never looked more like the first day I met her than she did now.

"Are you? Or are you just using a life that you had that someone decided against?"

"..."

She grabbed her tea again.

"Yes. You have encountered the replacement personality before."

"Well..." I stood up. "Okay. You're right. Things have changed, and they will never be the same. I guess this is goodbye, then."

"Kyon..."

That hit me hard. She said my name. _She said my name._ Well, nickname, anyway, but it's still a hell of a thing.

"I have one last request."

"Sure, anything," I said.

"No more deaths. Please. I know you can."

"I'll do my best."

"Goodbye, Kyon."

"Goodbye, Yuki."

I walked out. As I grabbed the doorknob, I heard a sound. It was oddly source-less, considering the complete lack of sound in the rest of the room for the rest of the time.

It was the sound of a droplet of water dripping into a pool.

* * *

I didn't give the sound much thought. I had a certain someone that I needed to meet, and that was occupying the main part of my mind.

I'd like to emphasize the "was", because as I entered the hallway, I almost bumped into someone. A certain someone who was the _last_ person I ever wanted to see.

"Oh! I'm terribly so-" said Mion.

She didn't finish her sentence before I gave her a taste of my fist.

"You eavesdropping bitch!" I said.

She stumbled backwards and tripped. I planted my foot directly on her sternum.

"How much did you hear?"

"I-but-I-"

She didn't seem smug or overtly defensive. She looked... kind of scared, really. Bah. Knowing what she did to Haruhi, this has to be a ploy.

"How much did you hear, Mion?" I said.

"No! Please! I-I'm not Mion!" she said.

"Sure you aren't."

"No, really! I'm her twin sister!"

The sheer... awfulness of her excuse caught me off-guard for a second. She's not even trying.

"That's the worst excuse I've ever heard," I said. I shifted onto my knees, still keeping pressure on her chest. As completely psychotic as this sounds, this is cathartic. In addition to any personal injuries she might have inflicted on Haruhi, she's also the future head of the family that hunted me down, attacked my friends, and made me a pariah.

"I-I'm serious! I live here! I-"

I grabbed her throat and cut her off. I'm pretty sure I smiled at that moment. Mion's so deeply in-character as her twin, she isn't fighting back. I thought she was smarter than this? Oh well, better not look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say.

I pulled out the scissors in my other hand, raised them above her eye, and-

One of the doors opened.

"..."

Nagato didn't say or do anything. She just looked at me. It was the same expression that she was wearing inside, but the little discrepancies seemed magnified. She looked... disappointed.

My attention had focused on Nagato for no less than a second. That's when I felt the zap.

There was a harsh burning right on my collarbone, followed by everything going black.

When I finally regained consciousness, Mion was gone.

"Gr, fuck you and fuck your family..." I muttered.

So, Mion carries around a taser? Good thing that I didn't try attacking her- oh, wait. Well, live and learn. If I ever decide to go after her again, I'll plan for it.

I got up, dusted myself off, picked up the scissors, and started heading out to Hinamizawa.

My destination?

Rika's house.

* * *

_I'm your friend, Kyon. No matter what._

Well, let's hope that still is true, shall we?

I decided not to retrace my steps that I took into town. Instead, I found the bus station where we had arrived here, and I took the same path that the SOS Brigade took on the day we arrived.

Hinamizawa and Okinomiya are a lot farther apart than I remembered. It was pitch black when I finally found Rika's house. The lights were on, which meant that someone was home. I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

That was Satoko. Well, this got harder.

"It's me," I said.

There wasn't an answer. I could hear someone fidgeting with the chain on the door. Eventually, it opened a hair.

"Go away."

The door shut on me. I opened it back up before it could be locked.

"Look, I need to talk to Rika,"I said.

"No, you don't. Go away."

"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend, and-"

"Are you? **Are you?** Which one? You _killed_ Rena! And now Keiichi's crazy and Itsuki's gone and Mion's all..."

Her rant had descended into weeping. I looked inside. Satoko's eyes were filled with nothing but tears and hatred. Burning, completely unchildlike hatred.

"Why do you keep hurting my friends..." she said.

"Look, I am truly and honestly sorry for what I did to Rena," I lied. "And I am also sorry for what happened to Keiichi. I'm going to Rika so I can be forgiven in a proper ceremony or something."

"No! She's not in! And even if she was, I wouldn't let you in! I won't let you hurt Rika! Ever! I won't let you hurt her like you hurt Rena-chan or Keiichi-kun, or anyone else!"

"Please, I really am sorry-"

"That's a lie!"

I felt a small but strong arm grab my shirt and throw me into the door. I braced myself on the door, which proceeded to be slammed on my fingertips.

It didn't get much of my hand, but it got the tips _hard_. I felt pain which I haven't felt since before I came into Hinamizawa. I felt a nail break. _Agghhhh..._

"And you aren't even content with hurting my friends, are you? You have to hurt your own friends, too!" said Satoko.

"What?"

"What happened to Itsuki-kun?"

Itsuki-kun... did she really just call him that? How close did they get while rooming together?

"You did something to him, didn't you! He went to talk to you and then he disappears!"

_I'm sorry._

Ah, there you are. Can you get Rika for me, wherever she is?

_Yes, I will._

"You-you're a monster! That's what you are! I-I-I hope you get... get demoned away! I hope you disappear, and are never seen again!"

"Satoko-chan, what's going on?" said Rika. So she was inside, and Satoko was lying. I see.

"Oh, n-nothing!"

The pressure on my fingertips suddenly went away. I retracted my hand and cradled it. Rika and Satoko were talking, but I didn't comprehend it due to my mental process sounding more vulgar than a shouting match in a sailor's bar. By the time I could focus on external stimuli, their voices were too distinct to hear. I leaned against the door until I heard someone undo the chain.

Rika let the door swing open. It almost seemed like there was a small thundercloud hanging around her. She looked like she knew exactly what I had done, and that I had failed her... which I had. I'm surprised she's still reacting kindly to me.

"Come in."

The house was silent. I noticed that Satoko was giving Rika an all-to-familiar look. It was one of pure fear and concern. I hate the fact that people always make that face around me.

"Rika... please. Don't," she said.

"I'll be fine, sir. Actually, I'd like to speak with him alone."

I nodded. I figured that she'd be touchy to talk to me about the supernatural around Satoko.

"No."

"Satoko-chan, please-"

"No! I won't let him! If he does, I know he'll hurt you or kill you or make you disappear or something horrible like that..."

Rika sighed. She shifted so that her hair was obscuring her eyes.

"Go." There's the creepy voice. Satoko actually stepped back. "I want to talk to him. This is a matter between him, and me. If I get hurt, it's my fault. If I die, it's my mistake. But it isn't yours. You don't need to think of yourself as my guardian. You aren't responsible for me, and if you think you are, sooner or later, you're going to be crushed."

She just gave Satoko a full double-barrel dose of her creepy side. It looked like Satoko was about to have a heart attack.

"I-I-I just don't want anyone else getting hurt, that's all!"

"He doesn't want to kill me." Those five words had a strange weight to them. I felt like I should have written it in a different color. Red, perhaps? "There's no reason for it."

Rika straightened up. She beamed at Satoko.

"How about you go and get some more soy sauce? I heard that Mi-chan is giving some out."

Rika, I don't suppose you know this, but when you apply extreme cold to something, followed by extreme warmth, it tends to break. It's called thermal shock.

Satoko didn't answer for a few seconds, then she nodded and headed out. Rika sighed and partially shifted back into her creepy state.

"Hanyuu, go and watch her," she said. "Make sure she doesn't do anything drastic, or get herself hurt."

_Okay._

I took a seat. Rika left the room and came back with a bottle of wine.

"This isn't the first time we've sat here, in this room, and talked one-on-one, Kyon."

"Really."

"Yes. But that time, it was me who wanted to talk to you, instead of you wanting to talk to me. That time, it was before the sun set, but now, we are in complete darkness."

Well, I take it you mean the metaphorical sort.

"I do. But... I have to apologize, Kyon."

"Why?"

Rika looked at me and smiled. It was a sort of ashamed, don't-be-mad-at-me smile.

"After what had happened with you after the festival, I spied on you. And I didn't keep my promise, either. Hanyuu was watching a lot of what you have done."

"Oh. Well, I probably could get pissed off at you for that, but I realize that I'm not in any sort of position to get mad at anyone for what they've done."

"I suppose so."

"And, seeing as you're still talking to me in a civil manner, you don't hate me for what I've done."

"I don't hate you, no. I've stopped hating people for promises they've broken a long time ago. It doesn't matter."

"Well, seeing as you know what I've done, we can skip the confession."

"Well... yes, but I would like to hear your side of things."

"Okay, sure."

"I'd also like to know why you're here asking for my help. There isn't much I can do."

"Well, you're more familiar with situations like my own. Come on, I'm sure there's times when someone went to you for help after their life has gone to hell."

"...yes, there have been many situations like this. But-"

"So you have to have had at least one time where you fixed it, right?"

"I..." Her demeanor shifted down ten degrees. "There has been situations where they have been resolved, yes. But only by themselves, or by people who weren't me. People who are out of this story right now, in the asylum or in the grave."

"So I screwed myself over, is that what you're saying?"

"No, not necessarily. You are a complete wild card, so to speak. I don't know what you're capable of. You could get it fixed, in theory, but I don't know how."

"Alright. Well, you could at least explain the actions of your friends, then."

"Okay, I'll do my best."

"Thanks. First off, Rena."

"What about her?"

"Well, she's been doing stuff that normal people can't do. The one thing that really stands out is how she made my neck start disintegrating just by touching it."

She tilted her head slightly.

"I haven't seen that before. I think I missed that part, and Hanyuu's watching Satoko at the moment, so could you please explain it a bit more for me?"

"Well, she touched my neck, and it started itching. I itched it, broke the skin, and this white dust started pouring out - which I recognize as disintegration."

"I haven't seen anything like that. But it reminds me of something else that happened."

"Also, her eyes. They were all slitted. Come to think of it, Koizumi had those too, before he fell."

"I've heard of the eyes, but I haven't seen them myself."

She took another sip of wine. "Anything else?"

"Not really. Now, can you help me escape this?"

She laughed. It had no mirth or positive emotion in it whatsoever.

"I can't. I've been trying for a century, and I haven't gotten anywhere-"

"I meant escape the Sonozakis hounding me. I could really care less about the whole time loop thing at the moment."

"So, you do not wish to escape the well, but you don't want to drown. That is more reasonable."

That also makes less sense, but I'll take what I can get.

"I can only do so much, though. And not for very much longer. In about twenty-four hours, I will be dead."

"Wow. You have precognition?"

"I have experience. I am not personally aware of what happens to this world afterwards, but I doubt it's a good thing. It doesn't matter, though. You and your friends need to get out of here."

"How?"

"On foot, by car, it doesn't matter. Get as far from Hinamizawa as you can."

"But, that doesn't fix a major problem that I have, but that's one I suppose we can put on the backburner."

"You mean that you're from the future. Koizumi-san mentioned that. As for that... I can't help you there. Get help from your friends. I recall that they can perform miracles."

I don't know... Asahina-san can't do anything. Plus, she hates my guts.

And Nagato is nothing but a shadow of her former self - and in a few hours, not even that. I'd be a miracle if she could shift time forward even a nanosecond.

As for Haruhi... she doesn't even know if she can help. I could just tell her, but that could very well screw everything over. Unless...

That was when I had an idea. It would kill all of my problems in one fell swoop. Not only could it get me out of Hinamizawa as well as 1983, not to mention clear my soul of all the sins I've committed, I could even mend the bond between myself and the SOS Brigade.

It wasn't a good idea. Oh, hell no. It wasn't sane in the least; on the contrary, I'd call it batshit insane if someone told me that idea. But... these are insane times, and that seems like it'd be _just_ crazy enough to work.

Besides, there's not really anything else I can do.

I stood up. "I know what I have to do." I started to leave.

"Sir? What's that?"

I stopped at the door.

"I have to kill Haruhi."

* * *

Alright then. First off, yes, you read that right, and I'm being serious. Now, I fully understand that you're thinking that I've gone completely off the deep end. Allow me to explain why killing Haruhi is my best option, and after that, maybe I won't seem as crazy.

Haruhi is somewhere close to omnipotent. Now, I recall that Koizumi had said that it was possible that Haruhi's powers would transfer to someone else when she died. Now, you might also recall that Koizumi said that Haruhi was powerless. Well, going off of what I've seen her live through, if she was as human as I am, she'd be dead by now. In other words, Koizumi's wrong on that regard, but he better be right about the other theory.

Now, I'm not dumb. I've noticed that Haruhi's had some sort of bond with me. Therefore, if she perished, that power would be transferred to me, allowing me to banish the darkness from the world.

...okay, that sounded a lot less Knight Templar in my head, trust me. Don't worry, I'd return the status quo by relinquishing the powers once I'm done. Once she's dead, I'll go to sleep, and I'd wake up in my own bed in my own house, and everything that occured in Hinamizawa would be but a dream.

Wait. Hold on a second. How, exactly, am I going to kill Haruhi? I mean, sure, I'll probably just stab her, but she's faster and stronger than I am. I can't run her down or fight her without getting my ass kicked. Taking a page out of Rena's book wouldn't be wise.

But what about a different book entirely? Asakura Ryoko lured me into an empty classroom, acted like the nicest girl in the world, got my defences down (not like I had any reason to suspect her of trying to kill me, period), and then tried to stab me at close range. I think that's easy enough to emulate.

Now, what about the locale? Getting caught is the last thing I want. Haruhi is staying with the Sonozaki family, which removes the option of a house call. I can't afford a hotel room, and, seriously, who would let me borrow their house for a murder?

And then, I passed by the perfect locale. The school was empty at this hour. There was only a padlock on the door, too. That came off easily. I slipped inside.

The interior of the school was dark and quiet. However, the full moon shining through the windows gave it an ethereal glow. The lights weren't necessary, but I turned them on anyway. They didn't add much more than an eerie hum.

I entered the classroom and turned on the lights. What immediately caught my eye was the flowers on the teacher's desk.

They were a memorial. The flowers were surrounding the framed portrait of Ryuugu Rena. It was the perfect portrait of an innocent girl extinguished before she could reach her prime. I put the picture face-down before it could start staring at me or talking to me or any creepy stuff like that.

There was a phone on the wall. I decided to call the only place that I've known her to be. It also happens to be the riskiest possible place to call. Let's just hope that this isn't Mion's number, but is some personal line.

The phone rang, rang again, and...

"Hello?"

A stroke of pure luck! I got Haruhi on the first try.

"Hey, it's me." I said.

"Kyon? You're still awake?"

"Look, you need to meet me at the school. I need to tell you something."

"Just tell me now."

"This is the Sonozaki line, isn't it? I don't trust it."

I heard a sigh over the phone. "I'll be there when I can."

"Good. Meet me inside the classroom, the one we were in the first day we were here."

"Alright." She hung up.

I noticed that, on the far wall, there was a slightly smaller memorial. It was for Keiichi. It had a card on it.

I opened the card. It said "Get well soon!" in it, and it had several signatures in it, including Satoko's, Rika's, and Mion's.

Holy crap, I screwed this town over, didn't I? Even though she was psychotic and possibly possessed, she was still a friend to a lot of people...

Okay, when I get Haruhi's powers, I'll make sure to not miss Hinamizawa. In fact, I'll fix the whole issue here, when I get the chance.

Eventually, Haruhi arrived. She looked tired and worn.

"You couldn't sleep either, huh," she said.

"Haven't slept in a while, really. I've been on my toes too much, I guess."

She nodded and grunted in agreement. "You know, this school is really creepy when it's abandoned like this. So, what's this news?"

"You know that corpse you found? The one without the face?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I know who it was."

"Oh? But... it didn't have any sort of... oh."

She gave me a wierd look. It was a little bit fear, a little bit accusation. "Kyon, if you murdered another person, I swear-"

"No, no, it's not that. Look at this."

I pulled out the scissors. Haruhi saw them and looked confused. "Where'd you get that?"

"It was upriver. I think it was the thing they used to remove the face."

"Hm. So... who was it?"

"Alright, brace yourself." I put one hand on Haruhi's shoulder.

"Well?"

"...I'm sorry."

That was it. That was when gripped her shoulder, pulled her towards me, and sunk the scissors into her.

* * *

It was warm.

There was blood, and it's pouring over my hand and onto my clothes and onto the ground and oh god it's so _warm_.

Oh god, what the hell am I doing? When was this ever a good idea?

_I'm sorry…_

No! You shut up! You haven't done anything that you have to be sorry about! I just stabbed Haruhi!

I just stabbed Haruhi…

…what? Don't give me that look! Don't just tilt your fucking head and look at me all confused like that! Scream! Cry! Faint! Attack me! Do something! Please, don't just look at me with those big eyes as if you haven't been stabbed!

"What's wrong?"

Please don't say that… look down or something. Anything.

"Why are you crying?"

Because… I screwed up…

I started to pull the scissors out of her abdomen. Only then did Haruhi look down.

She looked back up at me, her mouth ever so slightly open. She looked like me stabbing her was as incomprehensible as the Data Entity.

"I'm sorry…"

I could barely get those words out.

She looked back down at herself, then back to my face, then back down. One hand went to the scissors, running over them, over herself, over the blood. The other hand was just being held limp.

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've really sorry._

_Will you forgive me, Haruhi?_

"Did… did you…" said Haruhi.

She started to stumble forward. I stopped her and slowly let her to the ground so that she didn't hurt herself any more than I already had.

"Wait, stay there, I-I'm gonna call an ambulance, alright?"

I tried to get up, but I felt a hand grab my arm. Even when dying, Haruhi still can grab me hard enough to keep me from going where I want to go.

"Don't leave me."

I felt another hand on the side of my head, tilting my view against my will to look at Haruhi's face. She was… elegant. She wasn't crying. In fact, she looked confused more than anything.

"Why?" she said.

"I… I don't know. I had no idea what I was doing. I'm sorry."

She… she smiled. Why are you smiling?

"Thank you for giving Kyon back. If only you didn't wait so long."

Her smile faded. She looked... wistful, if anything.

"You know... I think I finally know who you look like," she said.

"John Smith?"

Her eyes went wide. "You... you know that name?"

"No, it's more than that. I'm John Smith."

She blinked. "But... that's not possible... unless..."

She smiled again.

"Time travel. That's it. It's real, isn't it."

"It is! And so are aliens, and espers, too!"

"So... you were right. They're all real..."

"Yes! Isn't that great! It's all real, and it's out there, waiting for you!"

She stopped smiling. "Don't bother. There's not much we can change here."

"Yes, there is! I swear, if you can get up, I'll do whatever I can to erase this event from every universe possible."

"But... it happened. Nothing you can do can change that it _happened._ In this world, the one we're currently experiencing, you stabbed me, and I'm dying."

"Look, I know I've made a horrible mistake, and I'm sorry." I sighed and sat beside her. "Punish me however you want. Kick me out of the SOS Brigade, tell me to go jump off a bridge, whatever you want, I'll go along with it."

Haruhi chuckled weakly. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes!"

"Well... I think I know what would be a good enough punishment for you. I think you know what it is, too, deep down..."

She tilted her head towards me.

"It was nice seeing you again, John Smith."

Haruhi tilted away from me before going perfectly still.

She was dead.

Suzumiya Haruhi was dead. By my hand.

* * *

I am an idiot.

No, wait, let me rephrase that.

I am a fucking idiot.

I didn't have a good reason. This wasn't self-defense. I just murdered Suzumiya Haruhi in cold blood. I just...

I realize something. I know that I've come across as madly in love with Asahina Mikuru. I know that it might seem that there's something between me and Nagato. But now, I realize, with the 20/20 hindsight that we all have, that I was in love with Haruhi.

I just killed the girl that I loved.

Well, let's see if this was in vain. Unless fate felt like completely screwing me over, there should be... something. Some sign that her capabilities are now mine.

Nothing. Every possible invocation of her powers didn't work.

She didn't stir.

"Well?" I shouted to nobody but myself. "That's it? All that, and for nothing?"

"Apparently so."

That voice from nowhere kickstarted that fear-laden adrenaline rush that I was becoming disgustingly familiar with. I turned to face it.

It was... no, that can't be her. That can't be _real._

What it looked like was Asakura Ryoko. She looked the same as I remember her looking; long blue hair, North High uniform, and a knife. Taking a page out of my nightmares, her uniform, face, and knife had a spattering of blood on it.

And she was clapping.

"Well, I have to say, I'm impressed with your form," she said. "The proximity and lack of warning were good ideas. I should have used them."

"...what the hell are you." I said. I removed the scissors from Haruhi with care and pointed it at "Asakura".

"Don't you recognize me? I'm Asakura Ryoko."

"No. Asakura's dead. You can't be real."

"What?"

"You have to be a figure of my imagination. No demon knows of you, and there's no way in hell you can be the real deal."

"I'm not... real? But I look real, don't I? I sound real, right?"

"That's just hallucination on my part. You only exist in my mind."

"But..." She walked over to me, and with inhuman speed, she cut with her knife. The side of my neck was suddenly in pain. "I feel real, don't I?"

"N-no..." I said. "You. Are. Not. Real."

"I'm... not..."

And then, she did something that really surprised me.

She applauded.

"Yay! You've finally managed to figure out the difference between reality and mental images!"

She looked down at Haruhi. "It's so sad that you had to learn so late, though. A lot of suffering could have been avoided!"

"Okay, so you're not real. Stop mocking me, alright? I don't need a hallucination of Asakura messing with me, especially not now."

"Messing with you? I'm not trying to. I'm just pointing out something you missed. There's a lot of facts down here in your subconscious that you're not even aware of."

"Look, I don't know what part of my psyche or subconscious, if any, you're representing, but fuck off."

She looked taken back, almost shocked.

"I..." She looked back at the door. "Alright then. Besides, this conversation is being interrupted anyways."

And as she vanished, the door to the classroom opened, and Nagato and Asahina-san were at the door.

They looked at me. They looked at my clothes. They looked at the scissors in my hand.

And then they looked at the body.

Nagato closed her eyes and looked away with a way-too-human cringe. Asahina-san didn't do that. Her eyes darted from me to Haruhi and back to me. She tried and failed to formulate words.

"Look, I can explain! Honest!" I said.

She screamed and ran off into the hallway. I almost followed her, but I didn't. Being chased by me, after all that I've done, would probably break her mind.

I looked back at Nagato. Her eyes were firmly shut. She was trembling.

"Look, I know that I screwed up, big time. I honestly thought I was doing the best thing. Can you forgive me? Please?"

She very suddenly stopped trembling.

"No."

And she opened her eyes.

Now, if I was in a better state, I might have said "et tu, Nagato?" or something of the sort. But, because of all that mental stress that I just went through, I actually said something a bit less poetic; "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Her eyes were slitted.

"You have directly terminated the cause of my being on this planet." Any human traits that she had... ever, were gone. This was pure alien. "I am automatically required to give retribution."

She closed her fist. Suddenly, it got a _lot_ harder to breathe.

Nagato, how? How did you let yourself get possessed, too?

The "choking" _hurt_. It was some interesting way of doing so, as well. Instead of, say, an invisible python wrapping around my neck, it felt like the iron in my blood had coagulated into an iron bar that was pressing directly inwards on my neck, right under the skin.

But this was easy enough to bypass. It's just a physical entity in my throat.

I'll just tear it out.


End file.
